VOA慢速英语：蔬果可以降低血压

Fruits, Vegetables Can Lower Blood Pressure

蔬果可以降低血压

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

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康和生活方式报道。

We may not need another study telling us that fruits and vegetables are good for our bodies. But research and studies can help us to understand how foods affect our bodies in good ways and bad.

我们可能无需另一项研究来告诉我们水果和蔬菜对我们的身体有益。但是调查研究可以帮助我们了解食物如何在正反两方面影响我们的身体。

Researchers at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine have found another great reason to eat more fruits and vegetables. They say that potassium-rich foods like sweet potatoes, avocados, spinach and bananas could help to lower your blood pressure.

南加州大学凯克医学院的研究人员发现了人们需要食用更多水果和蔬菜的另一个重要原因。他们表示，富含钾的食物，如红薯、鳄梨、菠菜和香蕉可以帮助降低血压。

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is an international problem. Experts at the World Health Organization say more than one billion people suffer from high blood pressure. The condition causes 51 percent of deaths from stroke and 45 percent of deaths due to heart disease.

高血压是一项国际难题。世界卫生组织的专家们表示，有超过十亿人患有高血压。这种疾病导致了51%的中风死亡和45%的心脏病死亡。

Health officials in the U.S. say heart disease and stroke together kill more Americans each year than any other cause. Years of research have linked sodium, or salt, intake to increased blood pressure. So, officials advise people to use salt in moderation.

美国卫生官员表示，心脏病和中风每年导致死亡的美国人数量超过了其它任何原因。多年的研究已经将纳或食盐的摄入与血压升高联系了起来。所以卫生官员建议人们适度摄入食盐。

Experts at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say Americans get most of their sodium -- about 75 % -- from processed foods and eating at restaurants.

美国疾病控制和预防中心的专家表示，美国人摄入的大部分食盐来自于加工食品和在外就餐，这占到了大约75%。

This is a good reason to eat fresh food prepared at home.

这是食用在家里做的新鲜食物的一个充分理由。

Alicia McDonough is a professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine. She led this recent study.

艾丽西娅·麦克多诺(Alicia McDonough)是凯克医学院的细胞和神经学教授。她主导了这项研究。

McDonough says that eating less sodium is a well-known way to lower blood pressure. But she also says evidence suggests that eating more potassium may have an equally important effect on hypertension.

麦克多诺表示，大家都知道减少纳的摄入量能降低血压。但她也表示，证据表明摄入更多钾可能会对高血压产生同等重要的效果。

For her research, she examined studies that looked at the link between potassium and sodium.

在她的研究中，她调查了那些关注钾和纳之间联系的研究。

McDonough found that people who ate more potassium generally had lower blood pressure unconnected to how much sodium they ate. Her research suggests that the body does creates a balance, using sodium to control potassium levels in the blood.

麦克多诺发现，摄入更多钾的人通常血压更低，这跟他们摄入了多少纳无关。她的研究表明，身体确实会通过利用纳来控制血液中的钾含量从而达成平衡。

"When dietary potassium is high," she says, "kidneys excrete more salt and water, which increases potassium excretion." This process cleans the kidneys.

她说：“当我们饮食中的钾含量过高时，肾脏会分泌出更多的盐和水，从而增加钾的排泄量。”这一过程清洁了肾脏。

She explains that as humans evolved, they ate a diet rich in potassium, but low in sodium. This has lead us to crave sodium, not potassium.

她解释说，随着人类进化，他们食用了富含钾但是钠含量低的饮食。这导致我们渴望摄入纳而不是钾。”

"If you eat a typical Western diet," she says, "your sodium intake is high and your potassium intake is low." She adds that this greatly "increases your chances of developing high blood pressure."

她说：“如果你吃的是典型的西方饮食，那么就意味着你的钠摄入量很高，钾摄入量却很低。”她补充说，这就大大“增加了你患上高血压的几率。”

McDonough published her study in the April 2017 issue of the American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism.

麦克多诺于2017年4月在《美国生理学会杂志：内分泌学与新陈代谢》上发表了她的研究。

Health experts at the CDC agree that "eating enough potassium each day can help balance out some of the harmful effects that high sodium intake can have on blood pressure." However, they also say that eating less sodium is important as well.

美国疾病控制和预防中心的健康专家认同“每天摄入足量钾可以帮助平衡高纳摄入对血压的一些不利影响。”不过他们也说，减少纳的摄入量也很重要。

On its website, the CDC lists these fruits and vegetables -- and other foods -- as being good sources of potassium.

美国疾病控制和预防中心在其网站上列出了富含钾的水果、蔬菜以及其它食物。

· potato, baked with skin

连皮烤的土豆

· leafy greens such as cooked beet greens, spinach and Swiss chard

绿叶蔬菜，例如熟的甜菜、菠菜和牛皮菜

· bananas

香蕉

· sweet potato, baked in skin

连皮烤的红薯

· fruit and vegetable juices such as prune, carrot, pomegranate, tomato and orange

水果和蔬菜汁，例如梅子、胡萝卜、石榴、西红柿和橙子

· acorn squash

橡果南瓜

· plain nonfat yogurt

原味脱脂酸奶

· beans and lentils

豆角和扁豆

· soybeans

大豆

· and some types of fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna and halibut

以及一些鱼类，例如鲑鱼，鲭鱼，金枪鱼和比目鱼。

But how much potassium should we eat each day?

但是我们每天应该摄入多少钾呢?

A 2004 study by the Institute of Medicine shows adults should eat about 4.7 grams of potassium a day to lower blood pressure. McDonough says eating about 60 grams of beans would provide 50 percent of that.

美国医学研究所2014年发表的一项研究表明，成年人每天应该摄入大概4.7克钾以降低血压。麦克多诺表示，食用大约60克豆角就能提供其中50%的钾摄入量。

And that's the Health & Lifestyle report.

以上就是本期健康和生活方式报道的全部内容。

I'm Anna Matteo.

我是安娜·马特奥。