趣味英语：吃素比吃肉更有益于身体健康

趣味英语：吃素比吃肉更有益于身体健康

Vegetarians live longer than meat-eaters, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, a Journal of the American Medical Association。

据《美国医学会杂志?内科学》(JAMA Internal Medicine)周一发表的一项研究显示，素食者比肉食者更长寿。《美国医学会杂志?内科学》是美国医学会杂志(Journal of the American Medical Association)的一种。

The authors tracked 73,308 members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for almost six years. The church is known for promoting a vegetarian diet, though not all of its followers adhere to that teaching. Researchers found out what type of diet participants ate, then followed up to find out how many of those participants had died and how。

研究作者对73,308名基督复临安息日会(Seventh-day Adventist Church)的成员进行了为期近六年的跟踪调查。该教会主张素食，不过并非所有的信徒都遵守这一教义。研究人员调查研究对象所吃食物的种类，然后进行随访，找出有多少研究对象去世以及死因。

Vegetarians in the study experienced 12% fewer deaths over the period. Dietary choices appeared to play a big role in protecting the participants from heart disease, from which vegetarians were 19% less likely to die than meat-eaters。

研究期间，素食者死亡人数比肉食者少12%。饮食选择似乎在保护研究对象避免罹患心脏病方面发挥了重要作用。素食者死于心脏病的人数比肉食者少19%。

There also appeared to be fewer deaths in the vegetarian group from diabetes and kidney failure。

素食者中死于糖尿病和肾衰竭的人数似乎也比肉食者少。

Caloric intake didn't seem to matter. The different participant groups generally ate around the same amount of calories daily. Researchers found that the beneficial associations weren't related to energy intake。

热量摄入量似乎并不重要。不同的研究对象小组每日摄入的热量大体相同。研究人员发现，饮食模式给身体带来的益处与能量的摄入量无关。

The advantage appeared stronger in men than women, whose diet didn't seem to make as much of a difference. Eating plant foods didn't seem to protect participants against cancer, which struck both the vegetarians and non-vegetarians in roughly equal measure。

素食对男性的益处比女性更明显。饮食模式对女性健康的影响似乎没有男性大。素食似乎并没有保护研究对象避免罹患癌症。素食者和非素食者罹患癌症的比例大体相同。

The paper, written by researchers at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California, is larger and includes a more diverse population than previous research, says lead author Michael Orlich, director of the preventive medicine residency program there. 'People are confronted with all sorts of nutritional information, but the bottom line is, 'How will your diet pattern affect your risk of dying?'' he says。

研究报告由位于加州洛马林达的洛马林达大学(Loma Linda University)的研究人员撰写。报告第一作者、洛马林达大学预防医学实习项目主任奥尔利奇(Michael Orlich)说，相比之前的研究，这次的研究规模更大，研究对象更加多样化。他说，人们面对各种各样的营养信息，但关键在于，你的饮食模式将如何影响你的死亡风险？

Researchers don't know why a plant-based diet seems to have a protective effect, but one likely reason is the nutrient profile of vegetarian diets, which tend to be higher in fiber and lower in saturated fat. Vegetarians tend to be thinner, another factor known to have an effect on health outcomes, Dr. Orlich says. He adds that the study benefited from examining a group whose rates of alcohol and tobacco use are low。

研究人员不知道素食为何似乎起到保护作用，但一个可能的原因在于素食的营养成分。素食往往纤维含量较高，饱和脂肪含量较低。奥尔利奇说，素食者往往较瘦，这是另外一个已知的对身体健康有影响的因素。他补充说，还有一个原因是研究对象饮酒和吸烟的比例都不高。

Of course, just eliminating meat from the plate doesn't always equal a healthy meal. Vegetarian dishes─for example, a vegetable spring roll─still can be high in fats and calories. And certain meats are healthy。

当然，仅仅不吃肉并不总是等于健康的饮食习惯。素食(比如蔬菜春卷)的脂肪和热量含量仍可能很高。此外，某些肉类也是健康的。

Loma Linda University is a Seventh-day Adventist institution specializing in health care. The church recommends a diet with 'generous use of whole-grain breads, cereals and pastas, a liberal use of fresh vegetables and fruits, a moderate use of legumes, nuts and seeds,' according to a statement on its website. The study published Monday was funded by the National Institutes of Health。

洛马林达大学是一所专注于医疗保健的基督复临安息日会机构。据该教会网站上的一份声明说，建议的饮食包括大量全麦面包、麦片和意大利面，不限量的新鲜蔬菜和水果，适量的豆类蔬菜、坚果和果仁。周一发布的研究由美国国立卫生研究院(National Institutes of Health)资助。

When adopting a vegetarian lifestyle, nutritionists recommend watching closely to make sure the intake of key nutrients is sufficient. These include iron and zinc, frequently found in meat, and calcium and vitamin B12. Roughly 5% of Americans consider themselves to be vegetarians, according to a survey published last year by Gallup。

当选择一种素食生活方式时，营养学家建议需要密切注意确保主要营养的摄入是充足的。这些主要营养包括铁和锌(常含于肉中)，以及钙和维生

素B12。据盖洛普(Gallup)去年发布的一项调查显示，约有5%的美国人自认为是素食者。

The Loma Linda researchers used a questionnaire to categorize participants into groups based on their diets。

洛马林达大学的研究人员利用一份问卷调查，根据饮食习惯将研究对象划分为不同的类别。

The categories include nonvegetarians and people considered semi-vegetarians, who eat meat more than once a month but less than once a week. In addition to meat, vegans eliminate dairy and eggs from their diets。

研究对象分类包括非素食者及被认为是半素食的人。半素食者指的是每个月食用一次以上的肉食，但每周吃肉不到一次。除肉类外，严格的素食者也不吃奶制品和蛋类。

Others eat fish, in addition to the cohort that eats no meat but consumes dairy and eggs. For many of the analyses, the researchers lumped all of these subsets of people together as simply 'vegetarians.'

其他类别有吃鱼的，以及不吃肉但吃奶制品和蛋类的。对很多分析项目来说，研究人员将所有这些类别统称为“素食者”。