过敏症可能与洗碗方式有关

 　　A new study suggests that parents who wash their dishes by hand, rather than in a dishwashing machine, may unwittingly lower the likelihood that their children will develop allergies¹.

　　一项新研究表明，父母用手洗碗——而不是用洗碗机——可能在无意中降低孩子患过敏的可能性。

　　The new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, looked at whether a number of behaviors that expose children to bacteria early in life might protect them from developing allergies later on. The idea, known as the hygiene² hypothesis, is that children raised in particularly sanitized environments are less likely to develop an immune tolerance³ to trivial threats.

　　这项新研究发表在《儿科学》(Pediatrics)杂志上，它研究的是一些让儿童接触细菌的行为能否防止日后出现过敏。这个观点被称为卫生假说，它认为在特别干净的环境中养大的孩子更加难以对无关紧要的威胁产生免疫力。

　　The researchers followed roughly 1,000 young children and their parents living in the Gothenburg area of Sweden. They investigated behaviors like whether the parents fed their children foods purchased directly from farms, such as eggs, meat and unpasteurized milk. They looked into whether the children ate fermented⁴ foods, which have beneficial probiotic bacteria. And they looked into whether the parents washed their dishes by hand or used a dishwasher.

　　研究者调查了瑞典哥德堡地区约1000名幼儿及其父母的生活。他们调查的行为包括：父母是否用直接从农场买来的食物喂养孩子，比如鸡蛋、肉类和未经高温消毒的牛奶；这些孩子是否食用含有益生菌的发酵食物；这些父母是用手还是用洗碗机洗碗。

　　过敏症可能与洗碗方式有关

　　Then they examined whether the children had allergic⁵ conditions including asthma⁶, eczema and hay fever. Ultimately, the researchers found that children raised in households where dishes were always washed by hand had half the rate of allergies. They also discovered that this relationship was amplified⁷ if the children also ate fermented foods or if the families bought food directly from local farms.

　　然后他们调查这些孩子是否患有哮喘、湿疹或花粉病等过敏症。最后，研究者发现，在一直用手洗碗的家庭长大的孩子患过敏的比率是用洗碗机洗碗的家庭的一半。他们还发现，如果这些孩子也吃发酵食物或直接从当地农场购买的食物，这种联系更为明显。

　　The findings demonstrated only an association, not cause and effect, so it was not clear whether these behaviors directly led to fewer allergies. But it may be the case that these behaviors expose children to innocuous bacteria, which can help strengthen their immune systems, said Bill Hesselmar, an assistant professor at the University of Gothenburg and lead author of the study.

　　这些发现只是表明一种联系，而非因果关系，所以仍不明确这些行为能否直接导致更少出现过敏。但是这项研究的主要作者、哥德堡大学的助理教授比尔·海瑟玛(Bill Hesselmar)说，情况可能是，这些行为能让孩子接触无害细菌，从而提高免疫力。

　　Dr. Hesselmar said that while the sanitizing effect of dishwashing machines can be a good thing, the “less efficient” method of washing dishes by hand might leave behind some bacteria that could have benefits. But he said more research was needed to see if the relationship they found was real and, if so, what was causing it.

　　海瑟玛博士说，洗碗机的消毒作用可能是有益的，但是用手洗碗这种“不那么高效”的方式可能会留下一些有益细菌。但是他说，需要进行更多研究来确定他们发现的这种关系是否属实，如果属实的话，原因是什么。

　　“It’s an interesting finding and very surprising,” he said. “But we have to see if we can confirm it.”

　　“这是个有趣的发现，非常令人意外，”他说，“但是我们必须看看能否证实它。”

1 allergies   

n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性

参考例句：

• Food allergies can result in an enormous variety of different symptoms. 食物过敏会引发很多不同的症状。 来自辞典例句
• Let us, however, examine one of the most common allergies; hayfever. 现在让我们来看看最常见的变态反应的一种--枯草热。 来自辞典例句

2 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

3 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。

4 fermented   

v.（使）发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰

参考例句：

• When wine is fermented, it gives off gas. 酒发酵时发出气泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His speeches fermented trouble among the workers. 他的演讲在工人中引起骚动。 来自辞典例句

5 allergic   

adj.过敏的，变态的

参考例句：

• Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
• Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏，比如花粉。

6 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

7 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。