VOA慢速英语2018 咖啡到底好不好?研究人员也说不清

Large Review of Coffee Studies Finds ... Not Much New

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康与生活报道。

Which is more popular -- coffee or tea?

咖啡和茶哪个更受欢迎?

If you are on Team Coffee, your team may be ahead.

如果你站咖啡队，那就加一分。

The well-known U.S. coffee shop Starbucks just opened its largest store in the land of tea: China!

美国著名的咖啡店星巴克在茶叶之国中国开了一家最大的门店！

The Shanghai Starbucks is 2,700 square meters and employs more than 400 people.

上海星巴克占地2700平方米，员工400多人。

But now for the health question: Is coffee good for us?

但现在从健康出发：咖啡对我们有好处吗?

There have been many studies on the health benefits of coffee. Recently, researchers at the University of Southampton’s Faculty¹ of Medicine in Great Britain looked at results from 201 observational coffee studies and 17 clinical trials of coffee.

有很多关于咖啡对健康的益处的研究。最近，英国南安普顿大学医学院的研究人员对咖啡进行了研究，他们观察了201项观测性研究和17项临床试验的结果。

With this “umbrella review,” researchers wanted to find a clear answer on whether coffee is good for us or not.

在“撒网式研究”的帮助下，研究人员想要找到一个明确的答案：咖啡对我们是否有益。

They discovered that coffee drinkers had a lower risk of heart and liver disease and some cancers. Coffee drinkers also had a lower risk of dying from stroke.

他们发现喝咖啡的人患心脏病、肝病和一些癌症的风险较低。喝咖啡的人死于中风的风险也较低。

However, their findings are uncertain. The researchers could not prove coffee was the cause of these lowered risks.

然而，他们的发现还不确定。研究人员不能证明咖啡是这些低风险的原因。

One of the researchers of this umbrella review is Robin² Poole. Poole’s team notes that their umbrella review included mainly observational data. Therefore, they could not prove any cause and effect relationship.

“撒网式研究”的其中一位研究人员是罗宾·普尔。普尔的团队注意到，他们的“撒网式研究”主要是观测数据。因此，他们无法证明任何因果关系。

The National Institutes of Health in the United States define an "observational uncontrolled study" as a study where “researchers simply watch what happens to a series of people in one group.” There is no control group.

根据美国国家卫生研究院的定义，“不受控制的观测性研究”指的是“研究人员仅观察一组人中一部分人的情况”的研究。这种研究没有实验控制组。

Still, researchers found that the benefits of moderate coffee drinking seem to outweigh³ the risks. Their report says that drinking coffee "was more often associated with benefit than harm."

不过，研究人员发现，适度饮用咖啡的好处似乎大于风险。他们的报告指出，喝咖啡“好处多于坏处。”

Poole calls these findings "headline benefits."

普尔称这些发现为“看得见的益处”。

There are some headline benefits such as a lower risk of dying from any cause, a lower risk of dying from heart disease and stroke and a lower risk of developing heart disease in the first place. And for those outcomes the maximum benefit was around three to four cups of coffee per day.

“有一些看得见的益处，比如降低死亡的风险，降低死于心脏病和中风的风险，以及降低患早期心脏病的风险。对于这些结果，每天喝三到四杯咖啡就可以带来最大的好处。”

Poole means that if people read only the headline, they may think that the results are simply positive. But he warns that the coffee story is much more complicated.

普尔的意思是，如果人们只看表面，他们可能会认为结果是积极的。但他提醒我们，咖啡要复杂得多。

He advises people to not drink more than four cups a day. And not everyone should drink so much coffee.

他建议人们每天最多喝四杯咖啡。而且不是每个人都应该喝这么多。

Researchers found that:Too much coffee during pregnancy⁴ can be dangerous.

研究人员发现:怀孕期间喝太多咖啡会很危险。

People, especially women, whose bones break easily should limit how much coffee they drink.

人们，尤其是女性，骨头容易骨折，应该限制他们喝咖啡的量。

People with abnormal heart beat patterns are advised to drink decaffeinated coffee.

心脏跳动不规律的人建议饮用无咖啡因的咖啡。

In addition, the scientists point out that the research was only about coffee. Yet many coffee drinkers don’t just drink coffee. They put sugar into it. They add milk or cream. They may have a baked treat on the side.

此外，科学家们指出这项研究仅仅是关于咖啡的。然而，许多喝咖啡的人不只是喝咖啡。他们往里面放糖。他们加牛奶或奶油。他们可能还同时吃一些烘焙食品。

Researcher Robin Poole warns that to get the full health benefits of coffee, keep it simple. Drinking it black is the healthiest. And skip the pastries⁵.

研究人员罗宾·普尔提醒我们，要想充分享受咖啡的健康益处，要尽量简单。喝黑咖啡是最健康的。糕点就放弃吧。

It is not about the sugar and the syrups⁷ and the biscuits, cakes and pastries. And we would urge people who are already drinking moderate amounts of coffee -- about the three or four cups per day mark -- to enjoy it, but try and make it as healthy as possible because standard health messages still apply to those other things.

“这本身与糖、糖浆、饼干、蛋糕和糕点无关。我们会督促那些已经喝了适量咖啡的人——大约每天喝三到四杯咖啡——可以尽情享用这些食物，但是尽量保持健康饮食，因为标准的健康饮食也同样适用于其他食物。”

The researchers found that the greatest benefit to drinking coffee seemed to be in fighting liver diseases. Based on that finding, they are planning a clinical test using coffee as a treatment for cirrhosis, a serious liver disease.

研究人员发现喝咖啡最大的好处似乎是对抗肝脏疾病。基于这一发现，他们计划用咖啡来对肝硬化进行临床试验，肝硬化是一种严重的肝病。

But the final takeaway is the same as before: If you drink coffee, keep it simple and don’t eat the pastries or other baked treats that often come with a cup of coffee.

但最终的结论还是和以前一样：如果你喝咖啡，保持简单，不要同时吃糕点或其他烘焙食品。

And if you’re not coffee drinker, you don’t need to start drinking coffee to be healthier.

如果你不喝咖啡，你也不必用喝咖啡来保持健康。

Words in This Story

data – n. factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation

outweigh – v. to exceed in weight, value, or importance

associate – v. to bring together or into relationship in any of various intangible ways

allege⁸ – v. to state without definite proof

maximum – adj. greatest possible in amount or degree

decaffeinated – adj. having the caffeine removed

skip – v. to pass over or leave out (something)

pastry⁹ – n. a sweet baked treat that often has fruit, icing, etc., on top

syrup⁶ – n. a thick sticky solution of sugar and water often flavored

cirrhosis – medical noun a serious disease of the liver that can be caused by drinking too much alcohol

takeaway – n. a main point or key message to be learned or understood from something experienced or observed

1 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

2 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

4 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

5 pastries   

n.面粉制的糕点

参考例句：

• He gave a dry laugh, then sat down and started on the pastries. 杜新箨说着干笑一声，坐下去就吃点心。 来自子夜部分
• Mike: So many! I like Xijiang raisins, beef jerky, and local pastries. 麦克：太多了。我最喜欢吃新疆葡萄干、牛肉干和风味点心。

6 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

7 syrups   

n.糖浆，糖汁( syrup的名词复数 )；糖浆类药品

参考例句：

• A variety of cocktails were created all using Monin syrups and purees. 我们用莫林糖浆和果泥创作了许多鸡尾酒。 来自互联网
• Other applications include fruit juices, flavors, and sugar syrups. 其它的应用包括水果汁、香精和糖浆。 来自互联网

8 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

9 pastry   

n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。