母乳喂养降低老年痴呆症风险

 　　母乳喂养降低老年痴呆症风险

LONDON, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Mothers who breastfeed run a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's, with longer periods of breastfeeding further reducing the risk, a new study paper unveiled on Monday.

　　The paper, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, suggested that the link may be to do with certain biological effects of breastfeeding. For example, breastfeeding restores insulin tolerance¹ which is significantly reduced during pregnancy², and Alzheimer's is characterized by insulin resistance in the brain.

　　Although data was gathered from a group of just 81 British women, researchers observed a highly significant and consistent correlation³ between breastfeeding and Alzheimer's risk. They argued that this was so strong that any potential sampling error was unlikely.

　　"Alzheimer's is the world's most common cognitive⁴ disorder⁵ and affects 35.6 million people," said Dr. Molly Fox from the University of Cambridge, who led the study.

　　"In the future, we expect it to spread most in low and middle-income countries. So it is vital that we develop low-cost, large-scale strategies to protect people against this devastating⁶ disease," Fox said.

　　Previous studies have already suggested that breastfeeding can reduce a mother's risk of certain other diseases. Research has shown that there may be a link between breastfeeding and a woman's general cognitive decline later in life. Until now, however, little has been done to examine the impact of breastfeeding duration on Alzheimer's risk.

1 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

2 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。

3 correlation   

n.相互关系，相关，关连

参考例句：

• The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
• A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。

4 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

5 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

6 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。