VOA标准英语2010年-Drinking Coffee May Protect Against So

Coffee is one of the world's most widely-enjoyed beverages¹. Flavor aside, scientists have recognized it as a complex blend of chemical compounds with potential health effects, both good and bad. Now, new research suggests that if you drink enough coffee, it might help you avoid certain kinds of cancer.

 Coffee is one of the world's most widely-enjoyed beverages. Flavor aside, scientists have recognized it as a complex blend of chemical compounds with potential health effects, both good and bad. Now, new research suggests that if you drink enough coffee, it might help you avoid certain kinds of cancer.

Dr. Mia Hashibe  of the University of Utah School of Medicine was interested in the link between coffee drinking and certain cancers of the head and neck. Researchers have looked into this before, but without reaching any firm conclusions.

"There were a few studies, but the findings were not consistent across the studies," she said, "so this finding from our current study was quite a surprise. We didn't really have any expectation of which direction it could go into."

To sort out the confusion, Hashibe and her colleagues used statistical² techniques to, in effect, make one big study out of the previous smaller studies.

So we combined data across nine individual studies, so we have a lot more power than previous studies that looked at this. And we included 4,000 cancer patients who have cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx [throat]. And then 9,000 controls, so controls are people who do not have cancer."

Those studies – in Europe and the United States – found that people who drank a lot of coffee were less likely to develop cancers of the mouth and throat.

"We saw a protective effect for drinking more than 4 cups of coffee per day," Hashibe said. "This was the 40 percent decrease in risk. We did not observe an association for drinking three cups or less per day."

In an interview via Skype, Mia Hashibe said there was a weak link between cancer risk and drinking decaffeinated coffee, but it wasn't statistically³ significant. And she and her colleagues found no evidence that drinking tea provided the same protection as drinking coffee. Their research is published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Hashibe says it is not clear how coffee might protect drinkers from certain cancers.

"There are a few chemicals that are known to be antioxidants in coffee. So we are thinking perhaps those compounds are playing some sort of protective role against several cancers."

If those compounds can be isolated⁴, maybe someday you'll be able to take an anti-cancer pill, but for us coffee lovers, the answer may just be another refill.
 

1 beverages   

n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 控制酒类销售的法规
• regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 含酒精饮料的销售管理条例

2 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

3 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

4 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。