B族維生素可抵禦空氣污染傷害
Vitamin B could help mitigate the effects of the most dangerous type of air pollution, according to a new study published Monday.
上週一發布的一項新研究表明，B族維生素可減輕危害最大的空氣污染物的影響。In the first study of its kind, a team of international researchers looked at the damage caused by one of the pollutants that has the most severe impact on health: PM2.5.
一個國際研究團隊檢測了PM2.5帶來的危害。PM2.5是對健康產生極其惡劣影響的污染物之一。這在同類研究中尚屬首次。The team found that something as simple as a daily vitamin B supplement could potentially reduce the impact of the tiny particles on the human body, although they stressed that research was in its early stages and the sample size was small.
研究團隊發現，每天攝入B族維生素補充劑這樣的簡單物質可能會減少這些細顆粒物對人體的影響。不過，研究人員強調研究還處於早期階段，樣本量很小。
According to the WHO, 92% of the world's population lives in places where the PM2.5 level exceeds the recommended threshold.
根據世界衛生組織報告，全世界92%的人口生活在PM2.5超過推薦安全值的地方。For this study, published in the science journal PNAS, 10 volunteers were initially exposed to clean air and given a placebo to check their baseline responses.
這項研究發表在科學期刊《美國國家科學院院刊》上。實驗初期，10名志願者接觸乾淨的空氣，同時服用安慰劑記錄基線反應。The group then took another placebo for four weeks before being exposed to heavily polluted air from downtown Toronto, where an estimated 1,000 cars pass every hour.
持續服用另一種安慰劑四周後，志願者開始接觸受到嚴重污染的空氣，這些空氣來自於多倫多市中心，那裏每小時約有1000輛汽車通過。
The bad air was delivered to the volunteers through an "oxygen type" face mask.
志願者通過氧氣面罩呼吸被污染的空氣。The experiment was then repeated, with each volunteer taking a B vitamin supplement daily -- made up of 2.5 mg of folic acid, 50 mg of vitamin B6, and 1 mg of vitamin B12.
然後，團隊重複實驗，讓每個志願者每天服用維生素B族補充劑。補充劑由2.5毫克葉酸，50毫克維生素B6和1毫克維生素B12組成。B6 can be found in liver, chicken and nuts, amongst other things, and B12 in fish, meat, eggs, milk and some cereals.
肝臟、雞肉、堅果等食物中都含有維生素B6，魚類、肉類、雞蛋、牛奶和一些穀物中含有維生素B12。The researchers found that four weeks of B vitamin supplements reduced the damage of PM2.5 exposure by 28-76%.
研究人員發現，連續四周服用維生素B族補充劑後，PM2.5帶來的危害減少了28%到76%。The results highlight how prevention at an individual level could be used to fight the adverse effects of PM2.5, the researchers said.
研究人員表示，這些結果爲個人對抗PM2.5的不良影響指明瞭預防方法。
