Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Alice…

Neil
Of course not, Alice! Processed food, by the way, is food that's been changed from its natural state, for example, by freezing or re-hydrating it, or by adding ingredients to it such as sugar, salt or fat. But let's move on now and talk about exercise.
Alice
OK – but I hope you aren't planning to have fried chicken again for lunch today from that dodgy fast-food joint round the corner. Now, one reason that people are taking less exercise than they used to is because of lifestyle changes. With increasing urbanisation people are no longer doing jobs that involve as much physical activity.
Neil
Yes, it's true. And urbanisation means the growth of towns and cities as people move there from the countryside to live and work. We're all sitting in cars, and offices, or on our sofas in front of the TV.
Alice
But it's also true that children are less active than they used to be. I remember running around all the time outdoors when I was a kid. Nowadays, they're all in front of screens, playing computer games or watching videos on YouTube.
Neil
So, adults and children are at higher risk of developing diabetes if they are overweight because they are likely to have higher levels of sugar in their blood. Let's hear more about this from Dr Etienne Krug from the World Health Organization.
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Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the World Health Organization
Diabetes is a kind of continuum. Gradually the levels of sugar in the blood increase until reaching the level of being diagnosed with diabetes. But people, before reaching diabetes, have too high level of sugar as well, sometimes, and that can be dangerous too – particularly causing cardiovascular diseases, which contributes to mortality too.
Neil
What's a continuum, Alice?
Alice
It's something that changes slowly over time. So in this case, as people increasingly eat food that's high in sugar and fat, the amount of sugar in their blood increases.