BBC: Weight- loss drugs reduce cancer risk

Can weight-loss drugs reduce the risk of cancer?

In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode, as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com so. 

Let's hear more about this story. 

Weight-loss drugs could reduce the risk of getting cancer by half, New research suggests. 

Cancer experts are excited by the findings, with one saying that this could be a whole new era of preventive cancer medicine. 

Obesity is associated with 13 different cancers. Losing weight reduces the risk. But the researchers have calculated that the weight-loss drugs provide an additional protective effect that is more than just weight loss. And our first headline is about this. 

This headline from the Daily Record. Weight loss jabs may prevent cancer due to health benefits beyond weight loss. 

And, um, that headline again from Daily Record. Weight loss jabs may prevent cancer due to health benefits beyond weight loss. 

And we're looking at this word jab. Waht is a weight loss jab, Georgie?

Well, jab is mostly used for vaccinations, but here it's about these weight loss drugs which are injected. 

Yes. Now, jab is quite an informal word and it became a lot more common during the Co-VID pandemic, when people were talking about the Co-Vid vaccinations. 

Yeah. So you might hear someone ask, have you had your jabs? Which means, have you had your vaccinations?

Jab has some other meanings. It can be a verb, meaning to poke something quickly and forcefully, usually with something pointy, like a finger or a pencil. 

For example, I was in a crowded place and  someone was in a rush, they jabbed me in the ribs with their elbow to get past me. 

Ouch, um, poor you. Neil, now, a jab can also mean an insulting comment, and we can use it in the phrase, take a jab at someone. So, for example, my sister always takes jabs at me for my fashion sense. She says, the colors I wear don't suit me. 

We've had jab injection, for example.

I hate getting jabs. I'm really scared of needles. 

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines. Today, we're talking about the suggestion that weight-loss drugs could reduce the risk of cancer. 

The study involved tracking patients for eight years and  found that weight loss injections were better at, reducing the risk of cancer than weight loss surgery. 

The authors of the study think this could be because the drugs reduce inflammation in the body and help the immune system destroy cancer cells. 

And that headline again. Weight loss jabs halve the risk of cancer That was from the Telegraph, so we. 

Can see that word jabs Again. The jabs halve the risk of cancer, but this time we're looking at halve. Now, Neil, it sounds a bit like half, doesn't it?

Yes. The noun half with the F sound means 50% of something. Half of four is two, for example. But here it's a verb, have with a V sound. 

Yes. It can mean to divide something into two parts. So imagine a pizza. I could halve a pizza into two parts, for example. 

But in the headline it means to reduce the amount to 50%, Reduce the risk of cancer to half. Halve the cancer risk. 

Yes. The word quarter can also be a noun and a verb. A quarter of something, that's the noun, is 25% of it. To quarter something. The verb means to divide it into four parts or reduce it to 25%.

Yes, but we can't do the same with a third or any other fraction. They work as nouns. A third, a fifth, an eighth. You're not likely to see them as verbs. 

We've had halve reduce by half. 

For example, the theme park halved its prices for the day to attract more customers. 

This is Learning English from the News from BBC. Learning English. We're talking about the weight loss drugs that could reduce the risk of cancer.