健康生活:早年貪吃 晚年白癡

It's most people's biggest health fear. But whether you get dementia, scientists now believe, is mostly a matter of lifestyle; it hinges on what you eat every single day. Here's a guide to making the choices that will preserve a healthy mind—starting right now!

癡呆症是人們十分懼怕的疾病。不管你是否有癡呆，科學家們認爲，它的出現與人的生活方式緊密相關；它取決於我們每天吃什麼。早年選擇合理飲食，有利於保護我們健康大腦，避免大腦受損。我們應該予以重視了！

When it comes to aging, life can be cruel. There's plenty 's come right out and say it: think about. What will happen to my looks? What will happen to my body?

許多人步入老年之後，隨着年齡增加，生活會遇到各種不便、困難與痛苦。如何應對這些變化，有許多事情值得我們思考。如何看待這個問題？首先我們得從注意自己身體變化做起。

Will I still be able to pursue my interests? What will happen to my mind?

生活能不能有自己嗜好？每天飲食對我們大腦會有什麼影響？

That last question is now the second leading health concern (after cancer) among adults in at least four Western countries—France, Germany, and Spain, as well as the United States—according to a recent survey by the Harvard University School of Public Health and the Alzheimer Europe consortium. Fear of developing dementia would likely stir even more concern if Americans didn't mistakenly believe a cure for Alzheimer's disease exists (more than 45 percent of U.S. respondents think there is an effective treatment). Despite the lack of a cure, great progress has been made in the past three decades in understanding the disease.

哈佛大學公共衛生學院和歐洲阿爾茨海默疾病聯盟最近一份調查稱，大腦癡呆症已成爲僅次於癌症第二大健康問題，在西方國家如法國、德國、西班牙和美國等的成年人中尤其如此。美國人對癡呆症的擔憂引發的焦慮，似乎對老年癡呆症治療喪失了信心：問卷調查發現，只有百分之四十五多美國人認爲，老年癡呆症有希望找到醫治方法。雖然治癒目前尚無取得成功，但三十年來對該病的理解已取得巨大進步。

The most common cause of dementia, or severe cognitive decline, and the sixth leading cause of death in the U. S., Alzheimer's disease is marked by difficulty storing new memories and recalling recent events, loss of ability to track day-to-day information, a disrupted sense of time and space, social withdrawal, irritability, and mood swings. The neurodegenerative condition typically manifests after age 60. Life expectancy in the U.S. is currently about 78 years and rising. The 5.4 million Americans who suffer from the illness include 13 percent of those over age 65.

據調查，老年癡呆症已成爲美國第六大殺手。癡呆症最常見症狀是，認知能力急速下降，存儲記憶困難，難以回憶發生事情，不能跟蹤記住發生信息，沒有時間與空間感覺，離羣孤僻，個性暴躁和情緒極端不穩。特別是年齡超過60歲之後，這種神經衰退症狀尤其突出。美國現在人口平均壽命大約爲78歲，並有增加趨勢。但是，美國患有癡呆症病的人數卻有540萬，其中有13%的癡呆病人年齡超過65歲；中國老年癡呆的患者數也呈顯著上升趨勢，據統計，目前患者總數約有600萬，10%的病人年齡超過65歲。

Scientists attribute the debilitating disorder to the gradual accumulation between brain cells of a toxic protein, beta-amyloid, that blocks the transmission of information from cell to cell, wipes out synapses, and disrupts basic neuron function, leading to cell death. Inflammatory processes are also involved in memory loss.

科學家們認爲，造成大腦失調不斷惡化主要原因是，腦細胞毒蛋白與β（貝它）澱粉樣蛋白逐漸沉澱積聚，阻礙細胞間信息傳遞，使神經突觸消失，神經功能下降，從而導致細胞死亡。在這病變過程中，同時也引起記憶損失。

The vast majority of Alzheimer's cases—over 99 percent—occur spontaneously; they are not linked to genetic factors. But they are linked to obesity. Researchers find that the same lifestyle choices that lead people to become obese or develop heart disease also increase the risk of developing dementia.

絕大多數老年癡呆症病患者（99%以上）是自然而然形成的，與遺傳基因並無關係，但與肥胖有關。研究人員已經證實，肥胖和引發心臟病的生活方式給癡呆症疾病帶來重大風險。

It comes down to this: Choices we make throughout life about what we put in our bodies may protect against Alzheimer's, or delay its onset. At the very least, says neuroscientist Gary Wenk, "We can slow down the time that it takes for someone to get symptoms." Professor of psychology, neuroscience, and molecular virology, immunology, and medical genetics at The Ohio State University, Wenk is author of the book Your Brain on Food.

研究得出結論：在我們整個人生中，選擇正確的生活方式，每天吃些什麼，能有效地預防老年癡呆症，或推遲它的發生。神經科學家加里 溫克（Gary Wenk ）說，至少“可延遲癡呆症狀出現。” 加里 溫克是美國俄亥俄州州立大學心理學、神經科學、分子病毒學、免疫學和醫學遺傳學教授，是《大腦與飲食（Your Brain on Food）》一書作者。

Heading off dementia, he insists, starts with what we eat. Food should be thought of the same way as the drugs we put in our body. They're all made up of chemicals. Everything we consume prompts a reaction in the brain. Picking the right foods can minimize damage to neurons and preserve a healthy mind as you age.

他認爲，我們預防癡呆症應從日常飲食開始。食物如同進入我們體內的藥品一樣，全是化學物質構成的。我們吃下所有食物都會在我們大腦產生反應。選擇正確食物對我們年邁之後有助於降低大腦神經細胞的損壞，保護好我們大腦健康。