VOA慢速英语20061115a

HEALTH REPORT - In Study on Overweight Mice, Chemical Reduces Effects of ObesityBy Caty Weaver¹

Broadcast: Wednesday, November 15, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.




Resveratrol is a compound found naturally in foods including grape skins, wine and peanuts. And scientists say it may hold the secret to being fat and happy -- for a mouse, at least. A new study in Nature magazine says resveratrol helped mice live as long and as well on a high-fat diet as mice that ate healthier foods.

Researchers in the United States studied three groups of one-year-old mice. That is middle aged² for a mouse.

The researchers fed one group a healthy diet of foods low in calories and fat. Another group ate high-fat, high-calorie foods.

The third group also ate a high-fat diet -- but with resveratrol added to the food. At first these mice were as slow and unhealthy as the ones eating fatty foods without resveratrol.

But in time, the researchers say, they began to show signs of good health comparable³ to the mice on the healthy diet. They also lived as long as those mice. And they lived at least fifteen percent longer than the mice on the high-fat diet without resveratrol.

The mice that ate high-fat foods alone showed signs of diabetes⁴ and heart disease. In humans, these two diseases are often linked to aging. But being overweight can make them happen sooner.

David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, led the study. He studies ways to control aging, and the National Institute on Aging helped support the study. But he also says there is a serious need for something to help overweight people who are unable to lose weight.

Several biotechnology companies are hoping to create a treatment that will act as the resveratrol did in the mice. Professor Sinclair says researchers are a long way from developing such a thing. But a company he helped start, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals⁵, is testing the safety of a resveratrol treatment in people with diabetes.

Resveratrol has been shown to extend the lives of other organisms including yeast⁶, roundworms and fruit flies.

The mice in this new study received huge amounts of it -- many, many times more than a person would get from a glass of red wine. Red wine contains more resveratrol than white wine.

Many health food stores sell resveratrol. But experts say no one knows if it will work the same in humans as it did in the mice. And they say no one knows if there are long-term dangers in taking large amounts.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, go to www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 comparable   

adj.相似的，同类的，可比的，比得上的

参考例句：

• A fire is comparable with the sun,both give light and heat.火可以和太阳相比，两者都可以发光发热。
• No horse has a speed comparable to that of his.没有一匹马的速度能比得上他的马。

4 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。

5 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。