VOA慢速英语2019 吃好点有助于病人康复（在线收听）

Eating Well Can Help Patients Recover

When people are getting over a sickness or injury, they may not think of eating the right kind of food during their recovery.

当人们从生病或者受伤状态恢复时，他们可能不会考虑在康复期间吃适合的食物。

But good nutrition may be key to getting their health back.

但是营养丰富（的食物）可能是康复的关键。

When Monika McComb returned home from the hospital, she did not think about following a healthier diet to help her get better.

当莫妮卡·麦库姆（Monika McComb）出院回家后，她并没有想过要通过更健康的饮食来帮助自己康复。

“You know, I could hardly even hardly walk with a cane.”

“你知道，我就是拄着拐杖也几乎寸步难行。”

McComb did not consider that her weakness might be because of poor nutrition -- until health care workers tested her.

直到医护人员对她进行测试，麦库姆才意识到她的虚弱无力可能是营养不良导致。

The test was part of a study carried out by Advocate Health Care and Abbott. Researchers hoped to learn about how nutrition helps to reduce visits to the hospital.

这项测试是由爱德维科特医疗中心和雅培公司开展的某研究的一部分。研究人员希望了解营养如何有助于减少造访医院的次数。

An invisible problem

隐疾

Suela Sulo is a health researcher with Abbot, a company that makes medical devices and drugs. She says doctors rarely think of malnutrition when working with patients who are in recovery.

苏拉·苏洛（Suela Sulo）是雅培公司的健康研究员，该公司生产医疗设备和药物。她指出，医生在治疗康复期的病人时很少会考虑到营养不良。

"Malnutrition is invisible to the eye, and therefore it remains under diagnosed and under-treated.”

“营养不良是肉眼看不到的，因此该症状在诊断和治疗方面尚有不足。”

McComb joined a home health care program, which provided her with a detailed nutrition plan.

麦库姆参加了一个家庭健康护理项目，该项目为她提供了详细的营养计划。

The majority of Americans are able to get healthy food. But one in three patients in home health care is malnourished or has some nutritional shortage. This puts their health -- and recovery -- at risk.

大多数美国人都能获取健康的食物。但在家庭医疗保健中，有三分之一的病人营养不良或营养不足。导致他们的健康和康复处于危险之中。

Kate Riley is a chief nursing officer with Advocate Health Care.

凯特·莱利（Kate Riley）是爱德维科特医疗中心的首席护理官。

"Nutrition is not the primary reason why patients usually come to home health; however, it is important for us to pay attention to the nutrition to promote their strength and get them recovered quicker.”

“营养并不是病患通常寻求家庭健康护理的主要原因；然而，重要的是我们要注重营养，以提高病人的力量，让他们更快康复。”

Abbot paid for the study and worked with Advocate Health Care to find a way to reduce hospitalizations, cut medical costs and promote patients' health.

雅培公司为这项研究支付了费用，并与爱德维科特医疗中心合作，寻找一种减少住院治疗、降低医疗成本和促进患者健康的方法。

Faster recovery with nutritional drinks

营养饮料有助于更快地康复

In the study, patients using home health care received education about nutrition, along with nutritional drinks. Sulo said that after such care, they were nearly 20 percent less likely to go to the hospital in the 90 days that followed an injury or illness.

在这项研究中，接受家庭健康护理项目的患者接受了营养教育，以及营养饮料的教育。苏洛指出，这样的护理项目结束后，患者在受伤或生病后的90天内前往医院的可能性降低了近20%。

“Through identifying the patients with malnutrition risk, feeding them with the right nutritional drinks, you are increasing their chances of recovering faster, not going back to the hospital, or not going to the hospital in the first place.”

“通过测试存在营养不良风险的病人，为他们提供合适的营养饮品，你可以增加他们更快康复的机会，而不是重返医院，甚至一开始就无需去医院。”

One of the study's goals was to create a program that patients could follow on their own. This meant the patients needed to learn about nutrition. Gretchen VanDerBosch says anyone can become malnourished and not know it. She says educating patients about nutrition is very important.

该研究的目标之一是创建一项病人可自主遵循的程序。这意味着病人需要学习相关营养知识。Gretchen VanDerBosch说，任何人都有可能营养不良而不自知。她说，对病人进行营养教育非常重要。

“Their outcome is so much improved, they have more strength, they heal quicker, have less falls, they have less readmissions,”

“他们的治疗结果有了很大的改善，病人更有力量，恢复得更快，摔倒次数更少，再入院的次数也更少。”

The researchers say they hope other health care programs and hospitals can use the study to help their patients, as well.

研究人员说，他们希望其他医疗护理项目和医院能够利用这项研究帮助病人。

As for Monika McComb, she says she feels stronger and has more energy than she had at the start of the program. She said her home health nurse and a focus on nutrition have improved her health.

至于麦库姆，她说自己感觉比刚参加护理项目时更强壮、更有活力。她说，她的家庭健康护士以及对营养的关注改善了她的健康。

Words in This Story

illness - n. a sickness or disease

cane - n. a short stick that often has a curved handle and is used to help someone to walk

malnutrition – n. the unhealthy condition that results from not eating enough food or not eating enough healthy food

diagnose - v. to recognize (a disease, illness, etc.) by examining someone

promote – v. to help (something) happen, develop, or increase

supplements – n. something that is added to something else in order to make it complete, such as dietary or vitamin supplements

outcome – n. something that happens as a result of an activity or process

focus - n. a subject that is being discussed or studied