研究發現:素食者比肉食者活得更久!大綱

Vegans have substantially lower death rates than meat-eaters, a major study has found. The study has been published in the JAMA Internal Medicine Journal and reignites debate around increasingly popular vegan diets amid conflicting medical advice and evidence over their impact of proponents' health.

一項重大研究發現：素食者的死亡率明顯低於肉食者。這項研究已發表在《美國醫學協會內科雜誌》上，在醫學建議與素食飲食對支持者的健康影響相沖突的情況下，重新燃起了人們對越來越受歡迎的素食飲食進行辯論。

The research was undertaken by scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, who monitored health and diet records of more than 130,000 people over the course of thirty years. They found every three per cent increase in calories from plant protein was found to reduce risk of death by 10 per cent. The figure rises to 12 per cent for risk of dying from heart disease.

馬薩諸塞州總醫院的科學家們開展了這項研究，他們監測了過去30年裏13萬多人的健康和飲食記錄。他們發現從植物蛋白中每增加3%的卡路里攝入量，死亡率就會降低10%。而死於心臟病的風險則降低12%。

By contrast, raising the share of animal protein in one's diet by 10 per cent led to a two per cent higher risk of death from all causes. This increased to an eight per cent higher chance of dying from heart disease. Substituting eggs for plant protein led to a 19 per cent reduction in death risk and eliminating unprocessed red meat saw a drop of 12 per cent.

相比之下，每從動物蛋白中攝入10%的卡路里，各類原因所造成的死亡風險則會上升2%。而死於心臟病的風險則增加8%。用雞蛋代替植物蛋白，則死亡風險降低19%；不吃未處理的紅肉，死亡風險就會降低12%。

As would be expected, the risk was found to be most pronounced among people who also engaged in other unhealthy activities, including having a history of smoking, drinking heavily or being obese.

正如預期的那樣，那些行爲不健康的人（包括有抽菸史、酗酒或肥胖）死亡率最高。

However, caution should be exercised when interpreting the results, as other more complex social and environment factors could affect the results rather than being solely related to diet. For instance, vegans are more likely to be younger than the general population and therefore have much lower mortality rates. Similarly, vegans can be more likely to come from socially affluent backgrounds, which can also influence mortality risk.

然而，在解讀結果時也需謹慎，因爲死亡風險不僅與飲食相關，其它更爲複雜的社會和環境因素也會影響其結果。例如，相比一般人羣，素食者往往更年輕，因此死亡率要低得多。同樣的，素食者的社會背景可能更爲富裕，這也會影響死亡率。

Lead scientist Dr Mingyang Song said: “Overall, our findings support the importance of the sources of dietary protein for long-term health outcomes”. “While previous studies have primarily focused on the overall amount of protein intake - which is important - from a broad dietary perspective, the particular foods people consume to get protein are equally important.”

首席科學家宋明陽說過：“整體而言，我們的研究結果支持飲食蛋白的來源對長期健康十分重要的觀點。”“雖然先前的研究主要注重蛋白攝入的總量——這十分重要——但從更廣泛的飲食角度來看，人們從特定食物中獲取蛋白質也同樣重要。”

“Our findings suggest people should consider eating more plant proteins than animal proteins, and when they do choose among sources of animal protein, fish and chicken are probably better choices.”

“我們的研究表明：人們應該考慮吃更多的植物蛋白而非動物蛋白。而當人們選擇動物蛋白時，魚和雞肉或許是更好的選擇。”