VOA标准英语2010年-Fish Oil Supplements Might Lower Breas

A new study suggests that women who take fish oil supplements lower their risk of breast cancer.

Fish oil supplements are a popular way to increase the intake¹ of omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to have a wide range of beneficial effects, particularly for cardiovascular health. But are they effective in preventing cancer? A new study suggests the answer is … maybe.

 

Women in the study — 35,000 of them — were asked in a questionnaire whether they used fish oil supplements. Six years later, those who did were much less likely to have had breast cancer.

"We found that women who were using fish oil at the time that they entered the study had a 32 percent lower risk of breast cancer than women who did not use fish oil supplements," said study leader Emily White of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

She says there's good reason to suspect that omega-3 fatty acids might protect against cancer. "There's a strong evidence that cancer is related to inflammation. So fish oil fits into that mechanism², since it is an anti-inflammatory drug."

Despite the evidence, White doesn't think her study alone justifies³ a recommendation that women start taking fish oil capsules.

"No, I don't think that a single study can lead to public health recommendations to start taking supplements," she says. "Really, we need randomized trials, where people are assigned to take a supplement versus⁴ not, to answer whether a pill would be useful to take for cancer prevention."

White explained that in a randomized trial, participants would be randomly⁵ assigned to either take the supplements or not.

By contrast, her study is what is known as an observational study, where participants themselves decide, in this case, whether to take a fish oil supplement, and then the researchers observe them to see who develops cancer. But the women who chose to use a supplement could be different in many other ways from those who didn't.

White and her colleagues did try to factor those differences into their analysis, but scientists generally prefer a randomized study, and researchers at Harvard are now organizing one to study the effects of both omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D.

White's paper is published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
 

1 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

2 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。

3 justifies   

证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护）

参考例句：

• Their frequency of use both justifies and requires the memorization. 频繁的使用需要记忆，也促进了记忆。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In my judgement the present end justifies the means. 照我的意见，只要目的正当，手段是可以不计较的。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句