VOA慢速英语:Want to Lose Weight? Try Counting Calories

How many calories we eat appears more important than what we eat when we eat too much. That was the finding of a new study that should be satisfying to anyone who counts calories for weight control.
当我们吃太多的时候，我们摄入多少热量似乎比我们吃什么更为重要，这是一项新研究的发现。该研究应能满足任何想通过计算卡路里控制体重的人。

More than one billion adults are overweight. The World Health Organization calls obesity a global epidemic. On Tuesday, government researchers reported the latest estimates for the United States. The good news: obesity rates have not increased much in recent years. The bad news: they have not decreased either. More than one-third of adults were obese in two thousand nine and two thousand ten.
全球有超过10亿成年人超重。世界卫生组织称肥胖症为一种全球流行病。周二，政府研究人员报告了美国最新评估结果。好消息是：近年来肥胖率没有增加多少。坏消息是：它们也没有减少。2009到2010年间，超过三分之一的成年人为肥胖者。

Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows there are all kinds of conflicting diet plans. Some tell people not to eat carbohydrates. Others say not to eat fats. Still others say to eat more protein. Or to eat less protein.
曾经尝试过减肥的任何人都知道各种各样互相矛盾的饮食计划。有些告诉人们不要吃碳水化合物，另一些说不要吃脂肪，还有一些说多吃蛋白质，或者少吃蛋白质。
 
Dr. George Bray at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana led the new study. He wanted to know if protein in food affects weight gain.
路易斯安那州彭宁顿生物医学研究中心的George Bray博士负责这项新的研究。他想知道，食物中的蛋白质是否会影响体重增加。
 
Twenty-five healthy adults were in the study. They were overfed by almost a thousand calories a day over an eight-week period. Calories in food are a measure of energy.
25名健康成年人参加了这项研究。他们在为期8周的研究期间，每天几乎摄入1千卡路里。食物中的卡路里是能量计量单位。

One of those in the study was Daniel Kuhn.
Daniel Kuhn是其中一名参与者。

DANIEL KUHN: "I was eating a lot of real butter, for instance, real whipped cream and things of that nature that I don't normally indulge in."
DANIEL KUHN：“我吃了很多真正的黄油。例如，奶油和类似性质的东西，平常我不喜欢吃这类东西。”

The people followed diets with low, normal or high levels of protein. Normal was defined as fifteen percent of energy from protein.
人们的饮食中的蛋白质被分为低、正常、高三种等级。正常水平是指蛋白质提供15%的能量。

Dr. Bray says all of them gained weight.
Bray博士表示，所有人的体重都增加了。

GEORGE BRAY: "Fat storage was exactly the same with all three levels of protein. It was the calories that they ate that affected the body fat that they stored."
GEORGE BRAY：“所有三种等级蛋白质导致的脂肪储存量完全相同。由此证明影响身体脂肪储存量的是他们吃进去的卡路里。”

The study found that those who ate a higher percentage of protein gained more lean body mass. The opposite happened on a low protein diet.
该研究发现，吃更高比例蛋白质的人获得更多的瘦体重。低蛋白饮食则与此相反。

GEORGE BRAY: "If your protein intake's low, you'll actually lose body mass even though you're eating an excess amount of calories."
GEORGE BRAY：“如果你蛋白质摄入量低，你实际会失去体重，即使你进食过量的卡路里。”

Dr. Bray tells his patients to weigh themselves regularly so they can know quickly if they gain weight.
Bray博士告诉他的病人，定期测量自己体重，这样他们就能很快知道自己体重是否增加。

His study on protein, calories and weight gain appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
他对蛋白质、卡路里和体重增加的研究发表在《美国医学协会杂志》上。

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian at the Harvard School of Public Health studies the relationship between diet and conditions like heart disease and diabetes. He says keeping a healthy weight is not just about eating less, but also about what you eat.
哈佛公共卫生学院的Dariush Mozaffarian研究了心脏病、糖尿病等疾病与饮食条件的关系。他说，保持健康体重不在于少吃，而在于你吃什么。

DARIUSH MOZAFFARIAN: "We don't need to go down a list of 'avoid this, avoid that' -- become, you know, food police. It's really actually mostly foods that should be increased. It's fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, vegetable oils and nuts."
DARIUSH MOZAFFARIAN：“我们不需要成为一名食品警察，来记下“回避这种或那种食物”。实际上有些食物我们要多吃，例如水果，蔬菜，全谷类，鱼，植物油和坚果。”

He says increasing these six foods by about one serving each day would reduce obesity and help slow the epidemic of obesity-related diseases.
他说，每天增加一份这六种食物可以减少肥胖，有助于减缓于肥胖有关的疾病的流行。