加工食品的危害: 不仅让你胖 还不利于心脏健康

What’s So Bad about Processed Foods?

加工食品有什么坏处?

Processed foods like chips, soda and frozen pizzas are full of salt, sugar and fat. Now, scientists are trying to understand if there is something else about such foods that may be bad for humans.

像薯条、苏打水和冷冻披萨这样的加工食品中含有大量的盐、糖和脂肪。现在,科学家们正试图了解这些食物中是否还有其他对人类有害的物质。

Scientists have already linked low-cost, packaged foods to rising obesity rates around the world. Obesity is a condition involving too much body fat. It increases the risk of many health problems.

科学家们已经将廉价的包装食品与全球不断上升的肥胖率联系起来。肥胖指体内脂肪堆积过多的一种状态。肥胖导致许多健康问题的风险增加。

Three recent studies offer more clues on how our increasingly industrialized food supply may be affecting our health.

最近的三项研究为日益增加的工业化食品供应可能对人类健康产生何种影响提供了更多线索。

The researchers created a system that places foods into four groups. The system says highly processed foods are made mostly of industrialized materials and additives.

研究人员创建了一个系统,将食品分为四组。该系统指出,高度加工食品主要由工业化材料和添加剂制成。

Sodas, packaged cookies, instant noodles and chicken nuggets are some examples of highly processed foods. But also included are products that can seem healthy, such as morning cereals, energy bars and some kinds of yogurt.

苏打水、包装饼干、方便面和炸鸡块都是高度加工的食品。但也包括一些看起来很健康的产品,比如早餐麦片、能量棒和某些类型的酸奶。

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health conducted a four-week study involving 20 people. They found that people eat about 500 more calories a day when fed mostly processed foods. That is compared to when the same people were given less processed foods.

美国国立卫生研究院的研究人员进行了一项为期四周的研究,这项研究有20人参与。他们发现,饮食以加工食品为主的参与者每天会多摄入约500卡路里。这是与同一个参与者食用较少加工食品的情况进行比较后得出的结论。

The researchers permitted the 20 participants to eat as much or as little as they wanted. They were taken to a medical center so their health and behavior could be observed.

研究人员允许20名参与者想吃多少吃多少。参与者被送往医疗中心,以便观察他们的健康和行为。

In another study, researchers in France found people who ate more processed foods were more likely to have heart disease. A similar study in Spain linked eating more processed foods to a higher risk of death in general.

在另一项研究中,法国的研究人员发现,吃更多加工食品的人更容易患心脏病。西班牙的一项类似研究表明,一般来说,食用更多加工食品会导致死亡风险增加。

When fed less processed foods, people in the study produced more of a hormone that controls hunger, and less of a hormone that causes hunger. The reason for the reaction is not clear. The scientists also found that people ate processed foods more quickly.

在研究中,食用较少加工食品的参与者会会分泌更多控制饥饿的激素,而引发饥饿的激素则会减少。造成这种反应的原因尚不清楚。科学家还发现,人们在食用加工食品时,吃饭速度会更快。

Kevin Hall is one of the researchers who led the study. He told the AP that processed foods are usually “softer and easier to chew and swallow.”

凯文·霍尔是领导这项研究的研究人员之一。他告诉美联社,加工食品通常“更柔软,更容易咀嚼和吞咽。”

Hall noted the source of nutrients might make a difference. For example, fibers from whole fruits and vegetables may be better for making people feel full than fiber added to packaged foods such as energy bars and yogurt.

霍尔指出,营养来源可能会产生影响。例如,来自完整水果和蔬菜的纤维可能比添加到能量棒和酸奶等包装食品中的纤维更能让人有饱腹感。

Avoiding processed foods can be hard, especially for people with limited time and money.

避免食用加工食品可能很难做到,尤其是对时间和金钱有限的人来说。

Processed foods can also take many forms. In addition, companies continually re-engineer products to make them seem healthier.

加工食品也可以有多种形式。此外,公司可以不断地对产品进行重新调整,使其看起来更健康。

The newest studies may provide more reasons to avoid processed foods. But, they also call attention to the difficulty of coming up with ways to do that.

最新研究可能提出了更多避免食用加工食品的理由。但是,研究同时也提醒人们注意,想出相关办法做到这一点是很困难的。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

乔纳森·埃文斯为您播报。


来源:小e英语

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