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  • Chocolate bars and ice cream can be as addictive as drugs.

  • Now some scientists think they should come with a warning.

  • This is News Review from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

  • And I'm Beth.

  • Make sure you watch to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about this story.

  • Don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video and try the quiz on our website.

  • Now, the story.

  • The junk food you love might soon have 'addictive' written on it.

  • A major review has found that adding warning labels to ultra-processed food could stop people buying it.

  • Researchers say these foods can have the same addiction symptoms as drugs.

  • They estimate 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 8 children are already addicted to ultra-processed foods.

  • You've been looking at the headlines, Beth. What's the vocabulary?

  • We have: labelled, tackle and slapping.

  • This is News Review from BBC Learning English. Let's have a look at our first headline.

  • This is from Sky News: Some ultra-processed foods should be labelled 'addictive', scientists say.

  • So, this headline is saying that some scientists think certain types of food, ultra-processed foods, should be labelled 'addictive'.

  • Addictive, meaning something you cannot stop doing. But we're looking at 'labelled' and it contains the word 'label'.

  • 'A label' – something you find, for example, on your clothes or on a packet, which has some information.

  • It does, yeah. A label gives you information about the object that it's attached to, like your shirt.

  • But here the headline is saying that ultra-processed food should literally come with a label that says 'addictive' on it.

  • Right, so is that it? It's very literal.

  • It's very clear, but I bet there's a metaphorical use as well.

  • There is. So a person, an object, an activity can be labelled and this means described in a certain way, often unfairly.

  • For example, maybe you tell one lie and now you're labelled a liar.

  • Were you labelled anything at school, Neil? Maybe a troublemaker?

  • No. I wasn't labelled a troublemaker, but maybe I was labelled a clown because I used to like to make funny jokes in the class.

  • Yeah. OK, let's look at that again.

  • Let's have our next headline.

  • This is from The Times: Label ultra-processed foods 'addictive' to tackle obesity, say scientists.

  • So, there's that word 'label' again that we've just been learning about.

  • Scientists say we should label ultra-processed foods as 'addictive' so that we can help to tackle obesity and 'tackle' is the word we are looking at.

  • 'Tackle' is a word familiar to every football fan.

  • It's when you try to take the ball from the opposition.

  • Is there any connection?

  • Kind of. So, in football, the other team are the opposition and you want to beat them.

  • Now, in the story, tackle is used metaphorically.

  • Obesity is what we want to beat or deal with and that's why the headline says we want to tackle obesity.

  • We need to deal with it.

  • OK. So how else can we use 'tackle' in this metaphorical way?

  • Well, police might tackle crime in a city.

  • Lots of people are doing what they can to tackle climate change.

  • That's right. I've started riding my bike to work to help tackle climate change.

  • Let's look at that again.

  • Let's have our next headline.

  • This is from the Daily Mail: Slapping junk food with 'addictive' warning labels could help end obesity, major review finds.

  • So, addictive warning labels could be added to junk food.

  • The word we're looking at is 'slapping'.

  • Beth, what is 'slap'?

  • It's this.

  • Don't worry, that wasn't real, and slap in the headline is also not literal.

  • It's metaphorical. So, 'slap' here means to put a label on to the junk food quickly and urgently.

  • Yes, that's right.

  • So, it's emphasising that the new labels should be added soon.

  • It's an urgent situation and the use of slap, there's a kind of aggression about it as well.

  • Now, Beth, can you give me 10 more examples, please?

  • 10? We don't have time for 10 more! That's ridiculous.

  • Well, Beth just slapped down my idea.

  • And there's another use of 'slap' as a phrasal verb with 'down' and it means to criticise someone's suggestion.

  • Let's look at that again.

  • We've had: tackledeal with.

  • Labelleddescribed in a specific way.

  • And slappingattaching urgently.

  • Now if you enjoyed this topic, we think you'll love this episode of News Review about fast food being bad for your brain.

  • Click here to watch.

  • And don't forget to click here to subscribe to our channel so you never miss another video.

  • Thanks for joining us. Bye!

Chocolate bars and ice cream can be as addictive as drugs.

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