soy food good for women
women who ate soy regularly as children have a lower risk of breast cancer, american researchers report. and men who eat fish several times a week have a lower risk of colon cancer, a second team of researchers have told the american association for cancer research.
the studies add to a growing body of evidence about the role of diet in cancer. cancer experts now believe that up to two-thirds of all cancers come from lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet and lack of exercise.
the us national cancer institute and researchers at the university of hawaii found that women who ate the most soy-based foods, such as tofu and miso, when aged 5 to 11, reduced their risk of developing breast cancer by 58 per cent. it was not clear how soy might prevent cancer, though compounds in soy called isoflavones have estrogen-like effects.
a second study showed that men who ate fish at least five times a week had a 40 per cent lower risk of developing colorectal cancer compared with men who ate fish less than once a week.
many kinds of fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which interfere with the cyclooxygenase-2 or cox-2 enzyme. cox-2 affects inflammation, which may play a role in tumour growth.
據美國研究人員報告，兒童時期經常吃豆類食品的女性患乳腺癌的風險較小。另一組研究人員則向美國癌症研究協會提出，一周吃幾次魚的男性患結腸癌的幾率較小。
這兩項研究進一步證明了飲食對於防癌的作用。癌症防治專家認為，在所有種類的癌症中，多達三分之二都是由吸菸、節食及缺乏鍛鍊等不健康的生活方式造成的。
美國全國癌症研究所和夏威夷大學的研究人員發現，在5歲至11歲時經常吃豆腐、味噌等豆類食品的女性患乳腺癌的幾率要低58%。至於豆類食品為什麼可以防癌還不清楚，不過大豆中所含的名叫異黃酮的化合物具有雌性激素的作用。
另一項研究表明，一周吃魚至少五次的男性患結腸癌的風險要比那些一周都吃不到一次魚的男性低40%。
很多魚類中所富含的omega-3脂肪酸能夠抑制環氧化酶2的活性。環氧化酶2會引起發炎，這可能會刺激腫瘤的生長。
if you're middle-aged and your memory's not what it used to be, check the bathroom scale, researchers warned, suggesting overweight people tend to score more poorly on tests of memory than their thinner peers do.
the findings suggest that a heavier weight in middle age may mean a higher risk of dementia later in life.
reporting in the journal neurology, the researchers speculated that higher rates of cardiovascular disease or diabetes might help explain the link. but it's also possible that substances produced by fat cells, such as the hormone leptin, have direct effects on the brain.
the study compared mental abilities to body mass index (bmi), a
measurement of weight in relation to height used to define overweight and obesity. a bmi of 25 or more indicates overweight, and 30 or more is obese.
the study also investigated the relationships between bmi and cognitive function in 2,223 healthy men and women between the ages of 32 and 62 in france through the use of four cognitive tests.
the study found a higher bmi was associated with lower cognitive test scores. results from a test involving word memory recall show people with a bmi of 20 remembered an average of nine out of 16 words, while people with a bmi of 30 remembered an average of seven out of 16 words.
研究人員提醒，如果你已步入中年，發現自己的記憶力不如從前，那么你得小心體重了。研究表明，超重的人記憶測試的得分要比較瘦的人低。
研究發現，體重偏大的中年人今後患老年痴呆症的可能性較大。
研究報告在《神經學》期刊上發表，研究人員推斷，心血管疾病及糖尿病的高發現象可以解釋其中的原因。此外，脂肪細胞所產生的物質，如瘦體激素，對大腦有直接影響。
此項研究將調查對象的智力與體重指數進行了對比。體重指數指的是身高和體重之間的比例，主要用來衡量一個人是否偏胖或肥胖。體重指數為25或25以上的人偏胖，達到30或30以上的人則為肥胖。
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研究人員還對體重指數和認知功能間的關係進行了研究，他們在法國對2223位年齡在32歲至62歲間的健康男女進行了認知測試。
研究發現，體重指數越大，認知測試的得分越低。其中一項"單詞記憶"的測試結果表明，在16個單詞中，體重指數為20的人平均能記住9個，而體重指數為30的人平均只能記住7個。
people who do not get enough sleep are more than twice as likely to die of heart disease, according to a large british study released monday.
although the reasons are unclear, researchers said lack of sleep appeared to be linked to increased blood pressure, which is known to raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke.
a 17-year analysis of 10,000 government workers showed those who cut their sleep from seven hours a night to five or less faced a 1.7-fold increased risk of death from all causes and more than double the risk of cardiovascular death.
the findings highlight a danger in busy modern lifestyles, francesco cappuccio, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the university of
warwick's medical school, told the annual conference of the british sleep society in cambridge.
"a third of the population of the uk and over 40 percent in the us regularly sleep less than five hours a night, so it is not a trivial problem," he told reporters.
previous research has highlighted the potential health risks of shift work and disrupted sleep. but the study by cappuccio and colleagues, which was
supported by british government and us funding, is the first to link duration of sleep and mortality rates.
the study looked at sleep patterns of participants aged 35-55 at two points in their lives - 1985-88 and 1992-93 - and then tracked their mortality rates until XX.
the results were adjusted to take account of other possible risk factors such as initial age, sex, smoking and alcohol consumption, body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol.
cappuccio said it was possible that longer sleeping could be related to other health problems such as depression or cancer-related fatigue.
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"in terms of prevention, our findings indicate that consistently sleeping around seven hours per night is optimal for health," he said.
(agencies) 本周一公布的一項大規模英國調查表明，睡眠不足的人死於心臟病的幾率是睡眠充足者的兩倍多。
目前其中的原因尚不清楚，但研究人員稱，睡眠不足會導致血壓升高，從而增大患心臟病和中風的風險。
一項針對1萬名政府職員、長達17年的跟蹤調查表明，每晚睡眠時間從七個小時減少到五個小時或更少的人因各種原因而死亡的幾率是睡眠正常者的1.7倍，而且死於心血管疾病的風險也增加了1倍多。
沃里克大學醫學院的心血管藥物學教授弗朗西斯哥•卡普西奧在英國睡眠學會在劍橋召開的一年一度的研討會上說，這一研究成果揭示了忙碌的現代生活中潛在的危險。
他在接受記者採訪時說：“三分之一的英國人以及超過40%的美國人每晚的睡眠時間常常達不到五個小時，所以這個問題不可小視。”
此前有調查發現輪班及睡眠中斷會對健康產生潛在威脅。但卡普西奧及其同事的這項調查則首次揭示了睡眠時間長短與死亡率之間的關係。該調查由英國政府和美國基金提供資助。
該調查對年齡在35歲至55歲之間的人在1985年至1988年以及1992年至1993年兩個階段的睡眠模式進行了探究，並對這一人群截至XX年的死亡率進行了追蹤。
調查還考慮到了調查對象的初始年齡、性別、是否吸菸喝酒、體重指數、血壓及膽固醇指標等其它可能的風險因素。
卡普西奧說，睡眠時間過長也可能導致如抑鬱症及癌因性疲乏等其它健康問題。
他說：“就預防而言，我們的研究結果表明，每晚睡眠時間持續保持在七小時左右最益於身體健康。”