HEALTH REPORT - Progression of Age-Related Macular Degenerat

HEALTH REPORT - Progression of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Wednesday, January 28, 2004

This is Phoebe Zimmermann with the VOA Special English Health Report.

American researchers say that eating fatty foods can worsen the progress of the eye disease¹ called age-related macular degeneration or A-M-D.

 
An image that shows what macular degeneration looks like to someone with the disease.
A-M-D is a major cause of blindness among people over the age of fifty in industrial nations. Experts say that five-hundred-thousand people around the world are found to have A-M-D each year. They say more than twenty-five-million people are affected² by some kind of A-M-D. And they expect the number to increase during the next twenty-five years.

The cause of A-M-D is unknown. The disease destroys the central part of the retina, the cells at the back of the eye that gather light. This area of the eye is called the macula. Macular degeneration causes abnormal³ blood vessels⁴ to grow there. These blood vessels can bleed and damage tissue⁵. A person with the disease can see little or nothing out of the center of the eye.

There are two kinds of macular degeneration. The most common and less severe kind is called the "dry form." It may or may not develop into the other kind of A-M-D, known as the "wet form." This kind of A-M-D causes most of the serious vision⁶ loss. It involves the leaking blood vessels.

The first sign of the disease is usually a loss of visual clearness. Later, people have trouble reading, driving and recognizing faces. Blindness is the end result.

The new study was reported in the publication⁷ "The Archives of Ophthalmology." It involved about two-hundred-sixty people with at least some vision loss from macular degeneration. The researchers studied them for more than four years.

They found that the chance of the disease getting worse was two times greater in the people who ate highly⁸ fatty foods such as baked goods sold in stores. They said both vegetable and animal fats were responsible. The researchers said that diets high in meat and milk products also increased the chances of the disease becoming worse, but not as much as baked foods. And they said the people in the study who ate a lot of fish and nuts reduced the chances that their macular degeneration would get worse.

The researchers said little evidence exists about what affects the progress of A-M-D. They called for more research into the link between fats and A-M-D.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

1 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 abnormal   

adj.反常的，不正常的，不规则的

参考例句：

• This warm weather is abnormal for February.二月里这种温暖的天气不太正常。
• That is simply abnormal.那简直是反常的。

4 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 tissue   

n.组织；薄纱，薄纸，手巾纸

参考例句：

• As we age we lose muscle tissue.肌肉组织会随着我们日趋衰老而萎缩。
• Athletes have hardly any fatty tissue.运动员几乎没有什么脂肪组织。

6 vision   

n.视觉，先见之明，光景，视力，眼力，幻想，影像；vt.幻想

参考例句：

• The wall cuts across our line of vision.那面墙挡住了我们的视线。
• Much reading has impaired his vision.大量读书损害了他的视力。

7 publication   

n.出版，发行；出版；公布，发表

参考例句：

• They don't think this article is suitable for publication.他们认为这篇文章不宜发表。
• The government has delayed publication of the trade figures.政府已将贸易统计数字延后公布。

8 highly   

adv.高度地，极，非常；非常赞许地

参考例句：

• It is highly important to provide for the future.预先做好准备非常重要。
• The teacher speaks very highly of the boy's behaviour.老师称赞这个男孩的表现。