简介：
Apple A Day Could Keep Statins Away
每天啃苹果，远离降脂药
A population model suggests that a small dietary change, such as eating a daily piece of fruit instead of the equivalent calories in less healthful fare, may stave off as many heart-related deaths as would statins. Christopher Intagliata reports.
研究人员通过建模发现，只要稍微改变一下你的饮食——比如每天摄入一点水果，也许就能够减少你患心脏疾病死亡的几率，而这也就是降血脂药物斯达汀的作用。
撰文/播音 克里斯多夫•因塔格里（Christopher Intagliata）
翻译 尹秋媛
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Especially the cardiologist, as it turns out. Because an apple a day might save as many lives as cholesterol-lowering statins are thought to. So says a study in the British Medical Journal. [Adam DM Briggs, Anja Mizdrak and Peter Scarborough, A statin a day keeps the doctor away: comparative proverb assessment modelling study]
养生界有句名言叫“一日一苹果，医生远离我:”。现在看来，这里的医生特指的心脏科医生。研究发现，一天啃一个苹果，或许能像斯达汀（statin，一类降血脂药物）一样降低我们体内的胆固醇水平，拯救千万生命于水火。这项研究发表在《英国医学杂志》（British Medical Journal）上。
Using mathematical models, researchers added an apple to the diet of every Brit over the age of 50—a total of 22 million adults—while keeping calorie intake constant. The idea being that calories from a vitamin and fiber-packed apple might displace those from less salubrious snacks.
借助数学模型，研究人员在保持总卡路里摄入不变的情况下，为英国2200万名50岁以上的人每餐“加”了一个苹果，想用维生素和膳食纤维中的卡路里，替代那些不那么“爽口”的零食中的卡路里。
And they found that upping the apple input could stave off some 8500 deaths by heart attack or stroke each year—compared with an estimated 9400 deaths averted by statins in England.
研究人员发现，坚持每天吃一个苹果，一年能使8500人免于由心脏病和中风引起的死亡。相比之下，使用斯达汀，能减少9400例由相同病因引起的死亡。
The comparison is not apples-and-oranges, because some doctors have indeed proposed giving statins to everyone over 50 as a preventive measure. But a small change in diet might do as much good, if people comply. And unlike statins, which can up the risk of diabetes, apples have few side effects: the researchers cite the distress caused by a bruised apple; or the "theoretical risk of identifying half a worm inside."
这一研究并非不切实际，因为一些医生确实会建议50岁以上的人出于预防考虑服用斯达汀。但是，只要你愿意，在饮食上稍作改变就能达到同样的效果。服用斯达汀也有副作用，比如增加患糖尿病的几率，当然苹果也有“理论上的副作用”——你说不定会吃出半截儿虫。
（题图来源：thestar.com）
