《中英對照讀新聞》Cofee top antioxidant for Americans 咖啡是美國人抗氧化劑首要來源

◎陳成良

Europeans have red wine, Asians have green tea but Americans have their own source of antioxidants -- coffee, researchers reported.

歐洲人有紅酒，亞洲人有綠茶，但美國人也有自己的抗氧化劑來源–咖啡，研究人員指出。

Americans drink plenty of coffee, which is high in antioxidants, compounds such as vitamins that fight damage to cells and to DNA, the study found.

美國人飲用大量咖啡，而咖啡含有大量的抗氧化劑。抗氧化劑是能夠保護細胞和DNA免受傷害的化合物，如某些維他命，這項研究發現。

But Americans are not eating enough fruits and vegetables, the sources of antioxidants as well as fiber and other nutrients that dietitians, scientists and doctors recommend, said Joe Vinson of the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.

但美國人水果及蔬菜吃得不夠多。蔬果是飲食學家、科學家與醫師建議的抗氧化劑、纖維及其他營養的來源，賓州史卡蘭頓大學的喬•文森表示。

Vinson and colleagues studied the antioxidant content of more than 100 different food items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and common drinks. They also examined a U.S. Department of Agriculture database on how much Americans eat of each type of food item.

文森與同僚研究一百多種不同食品的抗氧化劑成分，這些食品包括蔬菜、水果、堅果、香料、食用油及一般飲料。 他們也檢視了美國農業部有關美國人對各種食品攝取量的統計資料。

Dates, cranberries and red grapes have high concentrations of antioxidants, he said. But Americans do not eat much of these foods. Black tea was the second-leading source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet. Bananas, dry beans and corn placed third, fourth and fifth.

棗子、蔓越苺和紅葡萄的抗氧化劑含量很高，他說。但是美國人對這些食品吃得並不多。在美國人的飲食中，紅茶是抗氧化劑的第二大來源。香蕉、乾豆和玉米分列三、四、五位。

新聞辭典

antioxidant：抗氧化劑。維他命、礦物質及酵素中具保護身體，防止自由基形成者稱作抗氧化劑。自由基（free radicals）本身是原子或一群原子，會損害體內的細胞、破壞免疫系統及導致感染與各種退化病變。

date:名詞，棗子。My sister likes eating dates.（我姊妹喜歡吃棗子。）date當名詞的另一個意思是「日期」。