美国国家公共电台 NPR Personalized Diets: Can Your Genes Really Tell You What To Eat?

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. So genetic¹ tests can help you explore your heritage, but can your DNA³ also tell you what diet is best for you? NPR's Allison Aubrey asked that question.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE⁴: If you're curious about personalized nutrition advice, meet Kimberly Desjardine. She was, too. So a few months ago, she paid a couple hundred dollars for a personalized nutrition service called Habit. Now, to get the process started, she used an at-home test kit⁵. She swabbed the inside of her cheek to get a DNA sample, and she pricked⁶ her finger to get blood samples. She then mailed them to a lab for evaluation⁷, and here's what she learned.

KIMBERLY DESJARDINE: I think the aha's that came out of the test were that I was a protein seeker. It just basically said that I need more protein than the average person.

AUBREY: The recommendation was partially⁸ based on the results of her blood test. It showed her response to starch⁹ and sugar was not good. So high-protein foods, she was told, would be better. The test also showed that she had a variant¹⁰ of a gene² that makes her sensitive to caffeine.

DESJARDINE: Information like that makes me think twice about having that cup of tea in the afternoon. You know, 'cause I now know that if that's going to impact me, affect my sleep, et cetera...

AUBREY: Now, hold on here a second. What I need to point out is that these are two different kinds of tests. The caffeine test is based on her DNA, but the test to measure her response to starch and sugars is a blood glucose¹¹ test. It's not based on her genetics. So this left me wondering, with an increasing number of personalized nutrition services on the market, how much can your genes¹² really tell you? I put the question to Dariush Mozaffarian. He's the dean of the nutrition school at Tufts University.

DARIUSH MOZAFFARIAN: DNA is of course important, but it plays a pretty minor¹³ role.

AUBREY: He says so far genes only explain about 5 to 10 percent of the risk linked to diet-related conditions like type-2 diabetes¹⁴ and obesity¹⁵.

MOZAFFARIAN: For basic healthy living, it's not about your genes. It's about your behavior.

AUBREY: This could change. Future advances could give new insight. But, he says, for now a personalized diet comes down to factors other than your genes.

MOZAFFARIAN: Such as your age, how much extra weight you're carrying, how you respond to eating starch or sugar. Really, it's these other things that are much more important.

AUBREY: Think about this example. Mozaffarian says cutting back on snack foods with lots of simple starch and sugar is good advice for everyone, but he says there are big differences in how well people respond. So when Kimberly Desjardine's glucose test showed she was not handling starch and sugar well, that was very useful information to her even though it didn't come from her DNA. So what's the potential value of these services?

MOZAFFARIAN: They get people to stop and step back and think about being healthy and eating a healthy diet.

AUBREY: Desjardine says this has been true for her. Her results nudged her to change her habits.

Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

1 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

2 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

3 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

6 pricked   

刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。

7 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

8 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

9 starch   

n.淀粉；vt.给...上浆

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews.玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。
• I think there's too much starch in their diet.我看是他们的饮食里淀粉太多了。

10 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

11 glucose   

n.葡萄糖

参考例句：

• I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
• The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。

12 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

13 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

14 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

15 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。