爲治療貧血 柬埔寨窮人煮“鐵魚”吃

When Canadian scientist Christopher Charles discovered six years ago how badly Cambodians were suffering from anemia, he decided to try and solve the problem. Unfortunately, tried-and-tested methods such as iron supplements and iron-rich diets didn’t work because they weren’t affordable. So he came up with the novel idea of using a small iron fish as a cooking ingredient!
6年前，當加拿大科學家克里斯托弗·查爾斯發現柬埔寨人貧血得多麼嚴重時，他就決定要努力解決這個問題。不幸的是，嘗試過的和測試過的，像補鐵或吃富含鐵的食物的方法都沒用，因爲他們買不起。所以他有了一個新奇的想法：用一條小鐵魚做烹飪的配料！

The people Charles was working with were the poorest of the poor, and couldn’t afford red meat or expensive iron pills. The women couldn’t even switch to iron pots because they were too heavy and costly. “Here I was in a village with no running water, no electricity and no way to use my computer — it was like a (research) baptism by fire,” Charles recalled.
查爾斯幫助的是窮人中的窮人，他們買不起牛羊肉或昂貴的補鐵的藥。婦女們甚至都不能換鐵鍋用，因爲鐵鍋太重了，還很貴。查爾斯回憶說：“我待的這個村子沒有自來水，沒有電，我的電腦根本用不了——就像是一次研究經過了大火的洗禮。”

But inspiration struck eventually, and he decided that the best way cure anemia was to literally add iron to the food. “We knew some random piece of ugly metal wouldn’t work . . . so we had to come up with an attractive idea,” Charles said. Along with his research team, he came up with small, circular chunk of iron, but the women were hesitant to add it to their pots. They changed the prototype to a lotus shape, but the women didn’t like that either. So Charles dug deeper into Cambodian history and culture, and decided upon a piece of iron shaped like a fish – a symbol of good luck in Cambodia. And it worked! Women were more than happy to add it to their cooking pots and follow Charles’ instructions.
但最終靈感來了，他決定最好的治療貧血的方法就是直接把鐵添加到食物中。查爾斯說：“我們知道隨便一塊難看的金屬是不管用的…所以我們想出了一個吸引人的主意。”他和研究團隊想到了用一塊小的圓形鐵塊，但婦女們很猶豫，不願意把它放進鍋裏。他們把這個樣品改成了蓮花形，但婦女們還是不喜歡。因此查爾斯更深入地鑽研了柬埔寨的歷史和文化，並決定使用一塊魚形的鐵——魚在柬埔寨代表好運。這個方法真有效！婦女們非常開心地把它放到了做菜的鍋裏，並聽從了查爾斯的指導。

“Boil up water or soup with the iron fish for at least 10 minutes,” he explained. “That enhances the iron which leaches from it. You can then take it out. Now add a little lemon juice which is important for the absorption of iron.”
他解釋說：“把放鐵魚的水或湯燒開至少10分鐘，可以提高鐵的溶出量。然後就可以把鐵魚拿出來。再加入少許檸檬汁，非常有助於鐵的吸收。”

The fish, when used in the right way, are designed to provide up to 75 percent of an adult’s daily iron requirement, and even more for a child. Studies revealed that within 12 months, several hundreds of villagers were cured of anemia. Approximately 2,500 families are currently using the fish, which are also being distributed to hospitals and nonprofit organisations across the country.
如果使用方法正確，這種鐵魚被設計用來爲一個成年人補充多達75%的每天所需鐵量，孩子能補充更多。研究顯示12個月之後，幾百名村民不再貧血了。大約2500個家庭目前正在使用這種魚，也被分發給全國的醫院和非盈利組織。