HEALTH REPORT - Eating Nuts Prevents Diabetes

HEALTH REPORT – December 18, 2002: Eating Nuts Prevents Diabetes¹

By Jerilyn Watson

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A new study shows that eating nuts and peanut butter may help prevent one form of the disease² diabetes. Adult-
onset or Type Two diabetes affects about one-hundred-thirty-five-million people around the world. The disease
results when the body cannot produce or use a substance called insulin. Insulin is produced in the organ called the
pancreas. Insulin helps turn sugar in foods into energy.

The Journal³ of the American Medical Association⁴ published the findings⁵. Scientists from the Harvard University
School of Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts completed the research. They studied more than eighty-
three-thousand women for sixteen years. The women were thirty-four to fifty-nine years old. None of the women
had diabetes, cancer or heart disease when the study began. During the study, more than three-thousand women
developed diabetes.

The women answered questions every four years between nineteen-eighty and nineteen-ninety-six. The
researchers asked what they ate, including information about nuts and nut products.

Some of the women ate nuts five days a week. The size of each serving weighed about thirty grams. Or, they ate
a serving of peanut butter five days each week. Other women in the study did not eat nuts or peanut butter. Those
who ate nuts five times a week were more than twenty percent less likely to develop Type Two diabetes than the
women who did not eat nuts.

Although the study involved only women, the researchers believe eating nuts would also be good for men. The
scientists say more research is needed to confirm the findings. But the study suggests that the fats in nuts may
improve the way the body makes and uses insulin.

Nuts contain magnesium⁶. This element helps balance insulin and levels of sugar in the blood. The fats in nuts
also may improve the body’s ability to process sugar in the blood. People who suffer from diabetes have too
much sugar in their blood and urine, the body’s liquid waste.

Other research has shown that nuts are good for the health in other ways. For example, nuts contain good fats and
other nutrients⁷ that help reduce levels of cholesterol⁸ in the blood and may prevent heart disease.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

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1 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

2 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

3 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

4 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

5 findings   

n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决

参考例句：

• It behoves us to study these findings carefully. 我们理应认真研究这些发现。
• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。

6 magnesium   

n.镁

参考例句：

• Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
• The water contains high amounts of magnesium.这水含有大量的镁。

7 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。