時尚雙語:飲食營養三大誤區

Avoid eggs. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Eating carbs will make you fat. Nutritional(1) advice such as this has been touted(2) for years -- but is it accurate?

Not necessarily, according to Wendy Repovich, an exercise physiologist(3) at Eastern Washington University, who did her best to dispel several common nutrition misconceptions(4) during a health and fitness summit held recently in Dallas.

"Eating eggs will raise your cholesterol(5)." This myth started because egg yolks(6) have the most concentrated amount of cholesterol in any food, Repovich said. However, when eaten in moderation, eggs do not contain enough cholesterol to pose health risks, she said.

"Most people avoid eggs and probably if they have any kind of cardiovascular(7) risk their physicians tell them to avoid eggs," Repovich said. "But really, there aren't a whole lot of studies that show that one or two eggs a day really make a difference to cholesterol levels."

"Eating carbohydrates(8) makes you fat" is another myth. Cutting carbs from the diet may help a person shed pounds due to water loss from a decrease in carbohydrate stores, Repovich said, but eating carbs in moderation does not directly lead to weight gain.

Here's another myth. "Drink 8 glasses of water a day." Repovich said people need to replace water lost through breathing, urinating, sweating each day -- but that doesn't necessarily total 64 ounces of water.

"I see an awful lot of people carrying bottled water around," Repovich said. "I think people are still under the impression that they have to drink 8 glasses of water a day, but most people don't realize they get water from other sources in the diet."

And too much water can be harmful, Repovich warned, leading possibly to an imbalance in the body of sodium(9), a condition called hyponatremia.

It's also a myth, Repovich said, that everyone needs vitamin supplements, although she admits to popping a multivitamin(10) each morning. People who eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, along with moderate amounts of a variety of low-fat dairy and protein and the right quantity of calories, probably don't need a vitamin supplement, she said.

"But for the most part, we don't eat the way we should so probably a simple multivitamin is good for most people," Repovich said.

別吃雞蛋；一天喝八杯水；碳化物會讓你變胖；多年來這些營養建議受到大肆宣傳，但是它們可靠麼？

東華盛頓大學運動生理學家Wendy Repovich稱根本沒有必要。最近在達拉斯一次健康健美峯會上她極力否定幾個普遍傳播的營養誤區。

Repovich說：“吃雞蛋會增加膽固醇的說法源自雞蛋比其他食物含有更高濃度的膽固醇，但是適量食用不會對健康造成威脅。”

“很多人不吃雞蛋，或許如果他們有心血管疾病隱患，他們的醫生建議他們遠離雞蛋。但事實上，目前沒有足夠的研究證明每天1-2個雞蛋會影響體內膽固醇水平。”

“吃碳水化合物會引發肥胖也是一個誤區。不吃碳水化合物可以減少體內水分含量，以此造成體重減輕。但是適量攝入碳水化合物並不能直接導致體重增加。”

還有一個誤區：每天喝8杯水。Repovich說人體的確需要喝水來補充由於呼吸、小便、流汗流失的水分，但真沒必要一天喝64盎司。

“我看見好多人揹着水瓶走來走去。我覺得人們還在受這條謬誤的影響，但是大多數人都沒意識到食物中也含有水分。”

Repovich還警告說喝太多水是有害的，可能引起體內鈉含量失衡，患上低鈉血癥。

儘管Repovich每天早晨都泡一片多種維生素片，但她說並非所有人都需要補充維生素。如果一個人每天食用多種水果、蔬菜、全麥，適量攝入低脂奶製品、蛋白質和卡路里，就不用再吃維生素片了。

“但是基本上都無法做到，因此維生素片對大多數人來說是好的。”