研究發現 寒冷地區的人的酒精攝入量更高

A recent study from the University of Pittsburgh found that people who live in colder climates consume more alcohol than people who live in warm weather.

匹茲堡大學最近的一項研究發現，相比生活在溫暖氣候下的人，生活在寒冷氣候下的人會飲用更多的酒精。

"It's something that everyone assumed for decades, but no one has scientifically demonstrated it," Dr. Ramon Bataller, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, wrote in a press release.

匹茲堡大學的醫學教授拉蒙·巴塔勒博士在一份新聞稿中寫道：“幾十年來，大家都是這麼認爲的，但沒人從科學上證明這一點。”

"Why do people in Russia drink so much? Why in Wisconsin? Everybody assumes that's because it's cold. But we couldn't find a single paper linking climate to alcohol intake or alcoholic cirrhosis."

“爲什麼俄羅斯人喝那麼多酒？爲什麼在威斯康辛州人喝那麼多酒？每個人都認爲那是因爲天氣冷。但我們找不到將氣候與酒精攝入或酒精性肝硬化聯繫起來的任何論文。”

Since alcohol is a vasodilator that increases warm blood flow in the skin, the findings suggested that people reach for booze when it's cold outside to keep toasty.

由於酒精是一種血管舒張劑，可以促使皮膚內的溫熱血液流動，研究結果表明，人們在室外寒冷的時候會爲了保暖而喝酒。

Researchers combed through data from the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization to compare climate factors and alcohol consumption per capita.

研究人員梳理了世界衛生組織和世界氣象組織的數據，按人口數比較了氣候因素和人均酒精消費量。

The study also found that as temperatures and sunlight hours decrease, alcohol consumption goes up, along with binge drinking. Shorter hours of sunlight and cooler temperatures also relate to higher rates of depression, which is linked to an increase in drinking.

該研究還發現，隨着溫度和日照時間的降低，酒精的攝入量會增加，以及酗酒的出現。較短的日照時間和較低的溫度也與較高的抑鬱率有關，而抑鬱症會導致飲酒量增加。

"Let's just say, I will never be out of work in this state because of the alcohol consumption in this (area)," Bataller told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "We have a lot of patients, a lot of young patients, younger and younger, with alcoholic cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis. It's an epidemic in America."

巴塔勒向《匹茲堡先驅評論報》透露：“這麼說吧，這個地區的酒精消耗量讓我永遠都不會失業。我們有很多病人，很多年輕的病人，越來越年輕，患有酒精性肝硬化、酒精性肝炎。這在美國是一種流行病。”

The professor hopes this data will help influence health policies on alcohol abuse.

這位教授希望這些數據將有助於影響關於酗酒的健康政策。

"Knowing that colder places have more drink-related problems could be helpful to the efforts in these areas to determine better policies," he said. "If you have a genetic predisposition to alcohol abuse, maybe you should avoid super cold areas."

他表示：“認識到寒冷地區有更多與飲酒有關的問題，有助於這些地區制定更好的政策。如果你有酗酒的遺傳傾向，也許你應該避免去超級寒冷的地方。”