別吃了! 專家稱壽司沒你想的健康!

Healthy, convenient and increasingly popular over the past few years, sushi has become as common a cuisine in the UK as Indian or Chinese.

過去幾年間，健康、方便的壽司越來越受追捧，已和印度菜、中餐一樣成爲英國人的家常食品。

But it turns out sushi may not be as wholesome a choice as we previously thought – leading biologists have warned that it is in fact harming both the environment and our health.

不過後來人們發現壽司並不像大家之前想的那麼健康有益，權威生物學家警告說，事實上壽司對環境和人體健康都有害。

The UK sushi market is worth 69 million pounds a year, but because we're eating so much of it, tuna supplies in the oceans are dwindling.

英國每年壽司的市場總值達6900萬英鎊，但因爲消費的壽司量太大，海洋裏的金槍魚供應量正在不斷縮減。

According to Professor Daniel Pauly and Dr Dirk Zeller, the leaders of the Sea Around Us project at the University of British Columbia, bluefin and yellowfin tuna populations have reached "crisis" levels.

丹尼爾·保利教授和德克·澤勒博士是英屬哥倫比亞大學"我們身邊的海洋"項目的領頭人，他們指出藍鰭金槍魚和黃鰭金槍魚都已陷入短缺危機。

Bluefin tuna tends to be served in high-end, luxury sushi restaurants, whereas yellowfin is more common in high-street sushi bars and supermarkets.

藍鰭金槍魚通常在高檔豪華的壽司餐廳裏供應，而黃鰭金槍魚則在商業街的壽司小店和超市裏更爲常見。

Increasing global demand means sushi populations are being overfished. Most of the UK's sushi comes from the Indian Ocean, but according to Professor Pauly we now only have 2-3 percent of what we had 200 years ago.

全球對壽司的需求量增大意味着用來做壽司的魚類將被過度捕撈。英國多數做壽司的魚來自印度洋，但是據保利教授介紹，我們現在能在印度洋捕撈的壽司魚類（金槍魚）數量只有200年前的2%到3%。

"We are in permanent crisis if you look at it in historic terms," he warned.

他警告說："從歷史的角度來看，我們正處於永久性的危機當中。"

Professor Pauly and Dr Zeller believe it is our love of healthy tuna that's causing the problems in our oceans.

保利教授和澤勒博士認爲，我們的海洋出現這些問題，正是因爲我們太愛吃健康的金槍魚的緣故。

The fish is popular not just for its taste but for its health benefits – it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which aid heart health.

金槍魚受歡迎不僅是因爲它的美味，還因爲它給人體健康帶來的益處——金槍魚富含有益心臟健康的歐米珈-3脂肪酸。

But whilst sushi has a reputation for being low in calories and high in nutrients, we may have overestimated its health value.

不過儘管壽司以低熱量高營養著稱，我們可能高估了它的健康價值。

In advance of a lecture at the Zoological Society of London lately, Professor Pauly revealed he believes most high-street restaurants serve sushi that contains plastic microbeads, the controversial tiny particles often found in face-scrubs and beauty products.

日前在倫敦動物學學會講課前，保利教授透露說，他認爲多數商業街餐廳賣的壽司裏含有塑料微珠，這種有爭議性的小顆粒物常見於磨砂洗面奶和美容產品中。

"Microbeads are poison pills which soak up all the pollutants and they are consumed by little fish which are then eaten by tuna," Professor Pauly explained.

保利教授解釋說："這種小微珠就是毒藥丸，它吸收了所有的污染物，先被小魚吃掉，然後小魚再被金槍魚吃掉。"

What's more, according to Dr Zeller, sushi often contains high levels of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, which are chlorine compounds found in waterways that have been linked to causing cancer.

澤勒博士表示，除此以外，壽司還含有大量的汞（水銀）和多氯聯苯，這些存在於水路的氯化合物可致癌。

So what should we eat instead? Dr Zeller and Professor Pauly are urging the public to step away from sushi and eat more fish like anchovies and sardines – less glamorous, but potentially better for your health and the environment.

不吃壽司，那我們應該吃什麼呢？澤勒博士和保利教授敦促公衆少吃壽司，多吃鳳尾魚和沙丁魚這樣的魚類，雖然沒有金槍魚那麼有誘惑力，但是對健康和環境都更有益。