Study: Daily Handful of Nuts Reduces Disease Risk
VOA News
December 05, 2016 10:21 AM (source)
Study: Daily Handful of Nuts Reduces Disease Risk
研究：每天吃一把堅果能降低罹病風險
December 05, 2016 10:21 AM
The next time you're hungry for a snack, you may want to grab a handful of nuts, as new research suggests they lower the risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
Specifically, the research suggests at least 20 grams per day of nuts can " cut people's risk of coronary heart disease by nearly 30 percent, their risk of cancer by 15 percent, and their risk of premature death by 22 percent.”
Researchers said eating the nuts also reduced the risk of dying from respiratory disease "by about a half" as well as reducing the risk of diabetes by nearly 40 percent, although they added there is less data to support the effect of consuming nuts on those ailments.
Writing in the journal BMC Medicine, researchers from Imperial College London and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology analyzed 29 previous studies from around the world on the health benefits of nuts.
"In nutritional studies, so far much of the research has been on the big killers such as heart diseases, stroke and cancer, but now we're starting to see data for other diseases," said study co-author Dagfinn Aune from the School of Public Health at Imperial.
"We found a consistent reduction in risk across many different diseases, which is a strong indication that there is a real underlying relationship between nut consumption and different health outcomes. It's quite a substantial effect for such a small amount of food," he added.
Researchers say the study "included all kinds of tree nuts" like hazelnuts, walnuts and peanuts, which are legumes.
"Nuts and peanuts are high in fiber, magnesium, and polyunsaturated fats - nutrients that are beneficial for cutting cardiovascular disease risk and which can reduce cholesterol levels," said Aune. "Some nuts, particularly walnuts and pecan nuts, are also high in antioxidants, which can fight oxidative stress and possibly reduce cancer risk. Even though nuts are quite high in fat, they are also high in fiber and protein, and there is some evidence that suggests nuts might actually reduce your risk of obesity over time."
The study also found that more than 20 grams of nut consumption a day did not increase the health benefits.
下次肚子餓想吃零食的時候，也許抓一把(handful)堅果來吃也不錯。最新的研究指出，堅果可以降低罹患心臟疾病、癌症和其他疾病的風險。
此研究明確地指出，每天吃至少大約20公克的堅果，可以「減少罹患冠狀動脈心臟疾病(coronary heart disease)的風險約30%，並減少15%的罹癌風險，以及22%早逝(premature death)的風險。」
研究人員同時表示，吃堅果也可以減少「大約一半」的死於呼吸系統疾病(respiratory disease)的風險，並能降低罹患糖尿病(diabetes)的風險近40%。但研究人員補充說，目前能夠佐證攝取堅果對於這些疾病(ailment)的效用的資料仍不多。
倫敦帝國學院(Imperial College London)與挪威科技大學(Norwegian University of Science and Technology)的研究人員分析了世界各地曾做過的29個有關於堅果對健康益處的研究，其結果發表於《BMC醫藥學》(BMC Medicine)期刊。
（編按：《BMC醫藥學》(BMC Medicine)期刊是由英國BioMed Central(BMC)出版社發行的電子醫學期刊，其文章經過同行評審(peer review)制度篩選。）
倫敦帝國學院公共衛生學院(School of Public Health)的達格分‧奧恩博士(Dagfinn Aune)是此研究的共同作者。他表示：「目前大多數的營養學研究(nutritional study)都是針對重大致命疾病(big killers)所做的，像是心臟疾病、中風和癌症等，但我們現在也開始關注其他疾病的相關資料。」
他補充說道：「我們發現許多不同疾病的罹患風險都出現了一致性的(consistent)下降，這是一個有力的徵象，意味著堅果的食用和不同的健康結果之間存有一個潛在的(underlying)關係。僅如此少量的食物，其效用卻相當大(substantial)。」
研究人員表示，此研究中的堅果包含了榛果(hazelnut)和核桃(walnut)等「各種種類的木本堅果（即有硬殼包覆的樹木種子）」，也包含了屬於豆類(legume)的花生。
「堅果和花生都有豐富的纖維、鎂(magnesium)和多元不飽和脂肪(polyunsaturated fats)，這些營養素(nutrient)有助於降低罹患心血管疾病(cardiovascular disease)的風險，亦能降低膽固醇。」奧恩博士如此表示。「尤其像是核桃和胡桃(pecan)這類堅果的抗氧化成分(antioxidant)含量很高，可以對抗氧化壓力(oxidative stress)，也可能降低罹癌風險。堅果雖然脂肪含量高，但含有豐富的纖維與蛋白質。有一些證據顯示，在長期食用之下，堅果也許實際上可以降低肥胖的機率。」
研究也發現，每日所食用的堅果量若超過20公克以上，堅果對健康的益處並不會隨之增加。
Language Notes
coronary ['kɔrə͵nɛrɪ] (a) 冠狀動脈的；冠狀的
*本字源自於拉丁字根 "corona"，指「王冠」或「環狀物」，形容心臟四周血管環繞的結構猶如王冠狀，和形容詞字尾 "-ary" 結合後即形成本字
premature [͵primə`tjʊr] (a) 比預期早的，過早的
*本字由字首 "pre-" 「在……之前；先於」和形容詞 "mature" 「成熟的」組合而成，故可理解為「在成熟之前的」，意即「過早的」
respiratory [`rɛspərə͵torɪ] (a) 呼吸的
* "respiratory system" 即「呼吸系統」；本字的動詞為respire [rɪ`spaɪr] (v) 呼吸
diabetes [͵daɪə`bitiz] (n) 糖尿病
ailment ['elmənt] (n) 病痛；（尤指輕微的）疾病
consistent (a) 前後一致的；一貫的
underlying (a) 隱含的；潛在的
substantial [səb`stænʃəl] (a) 多的；大量的
legume ['lɛgjum] (n) 豆科植物；豆類
cardiovascular [͵kɑrdɪo`væskjʊlɚ] (a) 心血管的
*本字由字首 "cardio-" 「心，心臟」和形容詞 "vascular" 「脈管的；血管的」組合而成
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