VOA标准英语2011--Obese People Aren't Necessarily Unhealth

Obese 1 People Aren't Necessarily Unhealthy

研究称肥胖也可以健康长寿

A new study finds that it's possible to be obese and healthy.

一项新的研究发现，肥胖可能是健康的。

For years, we've been hearing about the dangers of obesity 2. Obese people are more likely to have heart attacks, stroke, and diabetes 3, and they should try to lose weight, experts say.

多年来，我们一直听人们讲述肥胖的危害。肥胖的人们更有可能患心脏病，中风和糖尿病，专家说，他们必须努力减肥。

Doctors use a measure called BMI (body mass index) to measure obesity. It's an easy calculation based on height and weight, and if your BMI is over 30, you're considered obese.

医生们使用BMI(body mass index,身体质量指数)来衡量肥胖的程度。这种计算方法基于身高和体重，非常简单。如果你的BMI超过30，你就被认为是肥胖的。

A couple of years ago, Canadian researchers developed a more sophisticated measure, called the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS). It classifies obese people in five categories, or stages, based on risk factors such as blood pressure, chest pain, and fatigue 4.

几年前，加拿大研究人员开发了一种更加精确的测量方法，叫做爱民顿肥胖分级系统EOSS。该系统将肥胖人群分为五个类别，或者五个阶段，主要是基于一些危险因素，例如血压，胸痛和疲劳。

To evaluate the EOSS, Jennifer L. Kuk, PhD, of Toronto's York University, and colleagues examined thousands of patient records from a clinic in Texas. Each patient was assigned to risk groups in the Edmonton system based on an average of 16 years of medical history.

为了评价EOSS，多伦多约克大学的Jennifer L. Kuk博士和他的同事对得克萨斯一家诊所的数千名病人进行了研究。每位病人都根据平均16年的医疗历史分配到爱民顿肥胖分级系统中的风险小组。 

"When we did that we saw that the obese individuals who were categorized in the low risk of the Edmonton Staging System, they were at a similar risk of dying as compared to the normal weight people in that sample. And they're in fact at lower risk for dying of cardiovascular disease," Kuk says.

“我们发现，分到爱民顿系统最低级的肥胖人群与体重正常的人相比死亡的风险是相似的。实际上，肥胖人群死于心血管疾病的风险更低。”

Many of these obese-but-healthy people had struggled to lose weight, but Kuk says that may not be the best approach for someone who eats well and is physically 5 active, despite carrying some extra kilos.

这些肥胖但是健康的人们曾经努力减肥，但是Kuk说，减肥对于饮食良好，积极运动的人来说并不是最好的方法，尽管他们可能体重超重。

"There are healthy obese individuals, and these healthy obese individuals may not actually benefit from losing weight. Instead, we should focus on a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and a good diet, and maybe these healthy individuals should stop focusing so much on losing weight and just focus on not gaining any more."

“这些是健康的肥胖者，这些健康的肥胖者不一定从减肥中获益。相反，我们应该集中于健康的生活方式，包括运动和良好的饮食，或许这些健康的旁人不要再集中精力减肥，只要注意肥胖不要加重就可以了。”

The Edmonton System was developed by researchers at the University of Alberta, and it is meant to be used alongside the traditional BMI scale. But perhaps because it is more complex than just using BMI, EOSS has been slow to gain traction 6.

爱民顿肥胖分级系统是由艾伯塔大学的研究人员开发的，原本是想与传统的BMI测量方法一起使用。但是，可能因为比仅适用BMI更加复杂，EOSS并没有太大的吸引力。