研究发现，吃鱼有助于保护衰老的大脑免受空气污染

研究发现，吃鱼有助于保护衰老的大脑免受空气污染

You may have purchased an air filter to put in your car or even an air purifier for your home. But what about something to put in your body to protect from air pollution?

你可能已经买了一个空气过滤器放在你的车里，甚至一个空气净化器在你的家里。但是有什么东西可以放进你的身体来保护你不受空气污染呢?

You can skip the hardware store and head straight to the grocery store for that, new research has suggested.

一项新的研究表明，你可以略过五金店，直接去杂货店。

Eating more than one to two servings a week of fish or shellfish may allow older women to consume enoughomega-3 fatty acids to counteract the effects of air pollution on the brain, according to a study published today in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

根据美国神经病学学会医学杂志《神经病学》今天发表的一项研究，每周食用一到两次以上的鱼类或贝类可以让老年女性摄入足够的omega-3脂肪酸，以抵消空气污染对大脑的影响。

"Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to fight inflammation and maintain brain structure in aging brains. They have also been found to reduce brain damage caused by neurotoxins like lead and mercury," said study author Dr. Ka Kahe, a professor of epidemiology and obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University in New York, in a press release.

Omega -3脂肪酸已经被证明可以对抗炎症，维持衰老大脑中的大脑结构。研究报告的作者、纽约哥伦比亚大学的流行病学和妇产科教授卡卡何博士在一份新闻稿中说：“他们还被发现可以减少铅和汞等神经毒素引起的脑损伤。

"So we explored if omega-3 fatty acids have a protective effect against another neurotoxin, the fine particulate matter found in air pollution."

“所以我们探索omega -3脂肪酸是否对另一种神经毒素，即空气污染中的细颗粒物有保护作用。”

Connections between food and brain health

食物和大脑健康之间的联系

The study observed white women over 70 who live in areas with high air pollution levels. Those who had the lowest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood had the highest amount of brain shrinkage.

该研究观察了居住在空气污染严重地区的70岁以上的白人女性。那些血液中omega-3脂肪酸含量最低的人大脑萎缩程度最高。

To conduct the study, researchers calculated how much fish the women consumed on average each week, measured the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood and determined the women's three-year average exposure to air pollution based on their home addresses.

为了进行这项研究，研究人员计算了这些妇女平均每周吃多少鱼，测量了她们血液中omega-3脂肪酸的含量，并根据她们的家庭住址确定了她们三年平均接触空气污染的情况。

Then they gave participants brain scans to measure the hippocampus area, which is the part of the brain associated with memory, and the white matter, which helps send signals throughout the brain.

然后，他们对参与者进行脑部扫描，以测量海马区和白质。海马区是大脑中与记忆有关的部分，而白质则帮助在大脑中传递信号。

The benefits of omega-3s from fish consumption, the researchers found, may preserve volume of white matter and size of hippocampus as women age and possibly protect against the potential toxic effects of air pollution.

研究人员发现，食用鱼类所含的omega-3脂肪酸可以在女性变老时保持白质的体积和海马体的大小，还可能保护她们免受空气污染的潜在毒性影响。

The study's lead author Cheng Chen, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University's Irving Medical Center, told CNN that more research is needed to see if these results can be generalized to the wider population.

该研究的第一作者，哥伦比亚大学欧文医学中心的博士后研究员程晨告诉CNN，需要更多的研究来看看这些结果是否可以推广到更广泛的人群。

"Our study is one of many that provides helpful insights regarding a healthy lifestyle, like a healthy diet, to reduce the adverse impacts of air pollution," Chen said. "The general population still needs to follow the general recommendations of the government. But I can say a very small increase in omega-3s or fish intake can be beneficial for the populations in the study."

程说:“我们的研究为健康的生活方式，比如健康的饮食，减少空气污染的负面影响，提供了很多有益的见解，我们的研究只是其中之一。”“普通大众仍然需要遵循政府的一般建议。但我可以说，少量增加omega -3或鱼类的摄入对研究对象是有益的。”

Chen said the research is part of a broader Women's Health Initiative Memory Study, which previously found that older women living in locations with higher levels of fine particles in the outdoor air had a smaller volume of white matter.

程说，这项研究是一项更广泛的女性健康倡议记忆研究的一部分，此前该研究发现，居住在室外空气中细颗粒含量较高的地方的老年女性，其白质体积较小。

Brain volume loss and white matter loss occurs naturally in aging, but environmental toxins can compound the problem. That's because fine particulate matter emitted into the air is a neurotoxin -- bad news for the brain.

随着年龄的增长，脑容量和白质会自然减少，但环境中的毒素会加剧这个问题。这是因为排放到空气中的细颗粒物是一种神经毒素，对大脑来说是个坏消息。

"The key with air pollution is that particles are so small they can be taken into the lungs," said neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson, an Alzheimer's specialist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical Center, who was not involved in the study.

纽约长老会医院和威尔康奈尔医学中心的阿尔茨海默症专家、神经学家理查德·艾萨克森博士说:“空气污染的关键在于，颗粒物太小了，可以被吸入肺部。”艾萨克森博士没有参与这项研究。

Isaacson explained that it's "not entirely clear why air pollution specifically impacts cognitive function," but previous studies have found that after entering the lungs, the toxins in air pollutants can be distributed throughout the body via the bloodstream.

艾萨克森解释说，“目前还不完全清楚为什么空气污染会影响认知功能，”但之前的研究发现，进入肺部后，空气污染物中的毒素会通过血液传遍全身。