听力文摘：糜鹿也有关节炎？（在线收听）

Did You Know That Moose Can Have Arthritis?

糜鹿也有关节炎？

It’s easy to tell, even at a glance, that people and moose are pretty different. Moose, at least males, have big, wing shaped antlers. People have no antlers. Moose are herbivores, eating only plants.

即便只匆匆一瞥，也能轻易看出人和糜鹿是完全不同的动物。糜鹿，至少是雄性糜鹿拥有大型的、像翅膀一样的鹿角。而人是没有角的。糜鹿是食草动物，只吃植物。

We eat mostly junk food. Despite their salad only diet, moose can weigh as much as 1400 pounds. Even the fattest humans top the scales at only around 1000 pounds. The list goes on.

我们却几乎总吃垃圾食品。尽管“色拉”是糜鹿唯一的食物，它们的体重却能达到1400磅。而我们人类中最胖的也只有1000磅。两者间的此类差异数不胜数。

And yet, in some ways, people and moose are similar. For example, both suffer from arthritis.

但是在某些方面，人与糜鹿是相似的。例如，两者都饱受关节炎的困扰。

And that’s interesting because how and why moose develop arthritis may be able to tell us something about the pathology of the human variety.

这个问题很有趣，因为研究糜鹿患上关节炎的过程和原因，可能有助于我们发现一些人类患关节炎的病理。

For example, researchers working in Michigan’s upper peninsula have been studying moose there for decades. And one thing they’ve found is while arthritis in moose is partly genetic, it’s also triggered by the environment.

例如，位于密西根湖上游半岛的研究人员已经对糜鹿进行了数十年的研究。他们发现糜鹿患关节炎在一定程度上是由基因引起的，同时也受到环境的影响。

Specifically, the researchers have observed that moose that suffer from arthritis seem to have not had access to proper nutrition early in life.

特别需要提到的是，研究人员观察的那些患关节炎的糜鹿似乎幼年都营养不良。

Perhaps they were born during a drought when there weren’t enough berries and other plants to eat. Whatever the case, even if those moose had plenty to eat later on, their very early nutritional deficits appear to have doomed them to an adult life of aching joints.

可能是因为它们出生于旱期，没有足够的浆果和其他植被可以食用。无论情况如何，即便那些糜鹿后来有足够的食物，它们幼年的营养匮乏使它们的成年生活注定与关节疼痛相伴。

The takeaway for scientists who study arthritis, and doctors who treat it in people, is that how and what we eat, even as babies, may lay the foundation for chronic arthritis and other health problems later in life.

研究关节炎的科学家和治疗关节炎的医生得出结论：我们（即便是在婴儿时期）怎么吃、吃什么可能会为后来生活中的慢性关节炎和其他健康问题埋下隐患。

And thanks to the moose, those scientists are also beginning to better understand the sorts of diets that could lower those risks.

得益于对麋鹿的研究，那些科学家也开始更好地了解能降低患关节炎风险的饮食种类。