A new study finds that men who drink a lot of coffee are less likely to develop potentially fatal prostate cancer. It's the latest study to show a beneficial effect from one of the world's favorite beverages.
新的研究发现大量饮用咖啡的男子不太容易罹患致命的前列腺癌。这项最新研究显示，咖啡这种世界上广受欢迎的饮料能够产生对人体有益的效果。
The study included about 50,000 men who reported their coffee consumption in questionnaires every four years. Over more than two decades, the moderate coffee drinkers were somewhat less likely to develop any form of prostate cancer. But lead author Kathryn Wilson of the Harvard School of Public Health says the real difference showed up when the researchers looked at the most serious prostate cancers.
这项研究有5万名男子参加，他们每四年在答卷上报告一次有关咖啡饮用量的问题。经过20多年的追踪调查，咖啡饮用中等的人群不太容易出现任何种类的前列腺癌。但是调查报告的主要撰写人、哈佛大学公共健康学院的凯瑟琳.威尔逊说， 在研究人员观察一些最严重的前列腺患者时，真正的差异显现了出来。
"Men who drink six or more cups of coffee per day had a 60 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer than men who drank no coffee," she says. "And we saw this reduction in risk for both regular and decaffeinated coffee."
她说：“每天喝6杯以上咖啡的男人比不喝咖啡的人患前列腺癌症的机会少了60%。我们看到不仅是普通咖啡，去咖啡因的咖啡也有同样功效。”
Coffee is a chemically complex brew, full of antioxidants and other compounds that may affect the development of prostate cancer.
咖啡是一种含复杂化学成分的饮料，具有丰富的抗氧化物质和其他化合物质，这些都能影响前列腺癌的发展。
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men worldwide, killing about a quarter-million people a year. Wilson says it's unclear what component or components in coffee may be reducing the prostate cancer risk - that's a target for future research.
前列腺癌这种常见的癌症是全世界男性的第二大杀手，每年导致大约25万男子丧生。威尔逊女士说，目前还不清楚咖啡中哪些成分可以降低患前列腺癌的风险，这是未来研究的目标。
In the meantime, she says it's too soon to say that men should drink more coffee just to reduce their risk of aggressive prostate cancer. But she says there is a growing body of scientific evidence that coffee confers a variety of real health benefits.
与此同时，她补充说，现在就说男子应该多喝咖啡来降低前列腺癌症的风险恐怕还为时过早。她说，有越来越多的科学证据显示，咖啡具有一系列有利于身体健康的作用。
"It's not harmful in terms of heart disease or stroke, and it seems possibly protective for liver cancer, and it's also associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes. So I think evidence is accumulating that coffee is at least not harmful and possibly beneficial for some health conditions. And so, you know, I think that's a source of relief to a lot of coffee drinkers."
她说：“对心脏病和血栓来说，咖啡没有害处，而且可能还会对防止出现肝癌有保护作用，并且与降低乙型糖尿病症状有联系。因此我认为，有更多的证据显示，咖啡至少没有害处，还可能对健康有好处。因此我认为这可以让喝咖啡上瘾的人得到一种安慰。” |