2006年NPR美国国家公共电台九月-Study Details Benefi

For some time, experts have been reading tea leaves, green tea leaves. Over the years, science has looked into whether green tea helps prevent heart disease, even cancer. Many of these studies have been served tepid¹, full of caveats² and the tea has often been tested on small animals. Well now from Japan comes this news. Drinking green tea may lower the risk of death, especially from heart disease and that is in people, not in hamsters. NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on the study in this week's journal of the American Medical Association.

The study took place in northeastern Japan where 80% of the population drinks green tea. Researchers looked at over 40,000 adults, comparing those who drank less than one cup of tea a day to those who drank three to five cups a day. Over eleven years, those who drank more tea were less likely to die of heart disease. Epidemiologist Shinichi Kuriyama from Tohoki University School of Medicine headed the study.

Our findings might explain differences in mortality profile between Japan and the US. Now Japanese has the longest longevity³ in the world.

In the study, women saw a greater decrease in heart disease than men. For women who drank 5 or more cups of green tea daily, there was a 31% lower risk of death from heart disease. For men, the risk was reduced by 22%. For both men and women, the biggest decrease was in death due to stroke. Doctor Kuriyama.

We don't know the mechanism⁴ of the green tea in those study, but the recent evidence shows that hypertension, or cholesterol⁵, or atherosclerosis itself could be improved by drinking green tea.

Although Kuriyama's study did not specifically look at hypertension, cholesterol or atherosclerosis, Kuriyama speculates that certain antioxidants in green tea help keep arteries⁶ healthy. Green tea is made by a more simple process than black tea. With green tea, leaves are steamed immediately after picking them. With black tea, moistures are removed, tea leaves are fermented⁷ in a humidity-controlled room and then dried, a longer process that may remove some antioxidants. Joe Vinson is a biochemist at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania who studies antioxidants in food. Vinson says the results of the study are important, but not at all conclusive⁸.

To me, it's not cause and effect, it's, it's a hint that green tea is good for the heart.

To solidly establish cause and effect, Vinson says a rigorous long-term clinical trial would be needed. And in any case, Vinson says all tea, both black and green, may help arterial health by increasing the body's natural production of nitric oxide⁹, which makes arteries more flexible.

It makes your arteries be able to constrict¹⁰ and open up again more easily, with less changes in your blood pressure, less stress on your heart.

So, bottom line, it can't hurt, says Vinson, to drink more tea, both black and green, both hot and cold. Americans traditionally are not tea drinkers, although that's changing somewhat with the increasing cold bottled green tea beverages¹¹. And interestingly Japanese researcher Kuriyama recommends cold tea because he says some studies have implicated¹² hot beverages in oesophageal cancer. In his study, Kuriyama found no link between drinking green tea and reduced death due to cancer as other studies have suggested.

Patricia Neighmond, NPR News.
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atherosclerosis
[7AWErEuskliE5rEusis]
n.
[医]动脉硬化症
antioxidant
[5Anti5CksidEnt]
n.
[化]抗氧化剂, 硬化防止剂
oesophageal
[i:7sCfE5dVi(:)El]
adj.
[解]食管的
tepid
1
a feeling, reaction etc that is tepid shows a lack of excitement or interest
synonym¹³ lukewarma tepid response from the audience
2
tepid liquid is slightly warm, especially in a way that seems unpleasant
synonym lukewarmtepid coffee
hamster
[5hAmstE®]
n.
东欧或亚洲产的大颊的鼠类

 

1 tepid   

adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的

参考例句：

• She bent her mouth to the tap and drank the tepid water.她把嘴伸到水龙头底下去喝那微温的水。
• Her feet firmly planted on the tepid rough brick of the floor.她一双脚稳固地立在微温而粗糙的砖地上。

2 caveats   

警告

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling. 为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。 来自辞典例句
• As I have written before, that's quite a caveat. 正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。 来自互联网

3 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

4 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

5 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

6 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 fermented   

v.（使）发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰

参考例句：

• When wine is fermented, it gives off gas. 酒发酵时发出气泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His speeches fermented trouble among the workers. 他的演讲在工人中引起骚动。 来自辞典例句

8 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

9 oxide   

n.氧化物

参考例句：

• Oxide is usually seen in our daily life.在我们的日常生活中氧化物很常见。
• How can you get rid of this oxide coating?你们该怎样除去这些氧化皮？

10 constrict   

v.压缩，收缩，阻塞

参考例句：

• Men and women alike have been constricted by traditional sexual roles.男性和女性同样受到传统性别角色的束缚。
• Severe migraine can be treated with a drug which constricts the blood vessels.严重的偏头疼可以用一种收缩血管的药物进行治疗。

11 beverages   

n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 控制酒类销售的法规
• regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 含酒精饮料的销售管理条例

12 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 synonym   

n.同义词，换喻词

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• The term 'industrial democracy' is often used as a synonym for worker participation. “工业民主”这个词常被用作“工人参与”的同义词。