SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Foods That Protect Against Disease

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
–
July 16, 2002: Foods That Protect Against Disease

VOICE ONE:

This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Bob Doughty¹ with Science in the News, a VOA Special English program about recent developments
in science. Today, we tell about research that says some foods may protect people against disease. We tell about
why eating foods with vitamins E and C may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. We tell about why eating
broccoli² may prevent stomach ulcers³ and cancer. And we tell why eating fish is good for your heart.

((THEME))

VOICE ONE:

Two new studies suggest that some vitamins found in foods can protect a person
from developing Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a condition of the
brain that usually affects older people. It begins slowly and becomes worse over
time. At first, victims forget recent events. Later, they lose memory and the ability to care for themselves.

The latest studies were reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They both suggest that
foods that contain vitamins E and C can protect against Alzheimer’s. Foods high in vitamin E include nuts,
seeds, vegetable oils, whole grains and green, leafy vegetables. Vitamin C is found in vegetables and fruits such
as grapefruit and oranges.

Vitamins E and C are called antioxidants. These are substances that block damage to cells in the body. This
damage is caused by oxygen molecules⁴ called free radicals⁵ during normal body processes. Researchers have
found evidence of this cell damage in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Scientists believe that a build-up of

cell damage called by free radicals is linked to several other diseases.

VOICE TWO:

The first study involved more than eight-hundred people in the American city of Chicago, Illinois. The people
were older than sixty-four. Half of the people were white. The others were black. Researchers asked them about
the foods they ate and studied their health for about four years.

About one-hundred-thirty people developed Alzheimer’s disease during that time. The disease developed in
fourteen percent of those who ate the smallest amount of vitamin E in foods. It developed in only about six
percent of those eating the largest amount of vitamin E. The researchers said the group eating foods with the most
vitamin E had a seventy percent lower chance of developing Alzheimer’s than the others.

However, vitamin E did not provide a protective effect among people who have a gene⁶ that is linked to a higher
risk for the disease.

VOICE ONE:

The second study involved more than five-thousand people in the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. All of the
people were older than fifty-four. Researchers studied them for six years. More than one-hundred-forty people
developed Alzheimer's disease. The researchers found that eating foods with vitamins E and C were linked with
lower rates of the disease.

Researchers say these studies do not prove that the vitamins can prevent Alzheimer’s. They are looking for that
proof in studies now being done. The studies are examining the health differences among groups of older people
taking vitamins and those taking inactive substances. Results of these studies are not expected for five to seven


years.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE TWO:

New research has shown that eating the green vegetable broccoli may protect a person from developing sores in
the stomach called ulcers and stomach cancer. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
have found that a substance in broccoli appears more effective than drugs against the bacteria that cause these
diseases.

The substance is sulforaphane (sul-FOR-ah-fane). Ten years ago, these researchers showed that sulforaphane
could destroy cancer-causing chemicals. Later, they found that it could prevent breast and colon⁷ cancers in mice.

VOICE ONE:Broccoli contains a chemical that the human body changes into sulforaphane. The researchers
discovered that three-day-old broccoli plants called sprouts⁸ have at least twenty times more of this chemical than
full -grown broccoli plants.

The researchers started a company to grow and sell broccoli sprouts to stores. They also decided⁹ to study the
sprouts’
effects on the bacterium¹⁰ called Helicobacter pylori (hell-e-ko-BAK-ter pie -LOW-ree). This bacterium
causes stomach ulcers and increases the chances of developing stomach cancer.

They did the studies with scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research in Nancy, (nahn-SEE)
France. The researchers published their findings in the Proceedings¹¹ of the National Academy of Sciences.

In laboratory studies, they found that sulforaphane killed Helicobacter pylori better than antibiotic¹² medicines. It
even killed bacteria in human stomach cells. In other studies, the researchers gave mice a chemical known to
cause stomach cancer. Mice that had been given sulforaphane had thirty-nine percent fewer cancerous growths
than the other mice.

VOICE TWO:

The researchers say their results do not mean that eating broccoli can cure ulcers or prevent stomach cancer in
people. But they are trying to find out if this is true. They are preparing to begin studies in Japan to test broccoli
sprouts in people infected with Helicobacter pylori.

About eighty percent of the people in Japan have the bacteria in their stomachs. The same is true among people in
other parts of Asia, and in some parts of Central America, South America and Africa. Scientists say stomach
cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer in many of these areas.

Helicobacter pylori bacteria can usually be treated with antibiotic medicines. But these medicines are very costly¹³
in some developing countries. The researchers say that finding a way to kill these dangerous bacteria without the
use of drugs would be a great help to people in many parts of the world.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE ONE:

Researchers are reporting new studies showing that eating oily fish reduces the chance of dying from a heart
attack. Oily fish have large amounts of a substance called omega-three fatty acid. These fish include herring,
mackerel and salmon¹⁴.

One study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers in Boston, Massachusetts studied
about twenty-two-thousand male doctors. The doctors took part in the Physicians Health Study in nineteen-
eighty-two. All were free of heart disease. Fifteen-thousand of the doctors provided the researchers with small
amounts of their blood.

VOICE TWO:

Ninety-four of the men who had given blood died suddenly during the next seventeen years. The researchers


measured the amount of omega-three fatty acid in their blood. They also measured the fatty acids in blood from
one-hundred-eighty surviving members of the study.

The researchers found that the men who died had lower amounts of the fatty acids in their blood. The men with
the highest levels of fatty acids had an eighty percent lower risk of sudden death than the men with the lowest
levels.

VOICE ONE:

A second study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Another group of researchers in
Boston studied eighty-five-thousand female nurses. The women were part of the Nurses Health Study that began
in nineteen-seventy-six.

The researchers spoke¹⁵ to the women five times in fourteen years to find out how much fish they ate. They found
that the women who ate the most fish were least likely to suffer a heart attack or die of heart problems. Women
who ate fish once a week had a thirty percent lower chance of heart attack or sudden death than those who never
ate fish.

VOICE TWO:

A third study appeared in Circulation, published by the American Heart Association. Researchers in Italy studied
more than eleven-thousand people who had suffered heart attacks. Half the group took a fish oil pill every day.
The others took an inactive pill.

The people who took the fish oil pills had a forty-two percent lower rate of sudden death from heart problems.
The researchers said their findings must be confirmed by other studies before they would tell people to take fish
oil in pills. But all the researchers said that eating oily fish two times a week can protect against heart disease.

((THEME))

VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Nancy Steinbach. It was produced by Caty Weaver¹⁶. This
is Sarah Long.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice
of America.

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1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 broccoli   

n.绿菜花，花椰菜

参考例句：

• She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
• They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的，而菜花都是白色的。

3 ulcers   

n.溃疡( ulcer的名词复数 )；腐烂物；道德败坏；腐败

参考例句：

• Detachment of the dead cells produces erosions and ulcers. 死亡细胞的脱落，产生糜烂和溃疡。 来自辞典例句
• 75% of postbulbar ulcers occur proximal to the duodenal papilla. 75％的球后溃疡发生在十二指肠乳头近侧。 来自辞典例句

4 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

5 radicals   

n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals. 一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句

6 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

7 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

8 sprouts   

n.新芽，嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨，麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

11 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

12 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

13 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

14 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

15 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

16 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。