吃糖一向被視為肥胖者的大忌，除此以外，一般讀者可能還知道吃糖與蛀牙、與某些心血管疾病的關系。可你是否想到過吃糖與人的衰老也有關系呢？本文則報道了這方面的最新研究成果，讀后令人大長見識。

    Rats that eat high levels of a natural sugar known as fructose seem to age faster than other rats--and the same could be true for people who eat too much sweet junk food, Israeli researchers said Monday.

    以色列的研究人員星期一說，大量攝取一種叫做果糖的天然糖的老鼠，似乎比其他老鼠衰老的更快。對甜食吃得太多的人來說，情況也可能會是如此。

    Fructose, found naturally in honey and fruit, is used widely in foods ranging from soft drinks to yogurt. But while its sweet taste is popular, the sugar could cause wrinkles and heal the problems, the researchers said. Dr. Moshe Werman and Boaz Levi of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology fed large amounts of fructose to laboratory rats. Writing in the Journal of Nutrition, they said the fructose-fed rats showed changes n the collagen of their skin and bones.

    自然存在于蜂蜜和水果中的果糖，被廣泛用于從飲料到酸奶的各種食品中。研究人員說，盡管它的甜味很受歡迎，這種糖卻能使皮膚起皺紋并影響身體健康。以色列科學技術研究所的摩西- 沃曼和波阿茲-利位博士喂給實驗鼠大量果糖。他們在《營養學雜志》上發表文章說，那些吃了果糖的老鼠的皮膚和骨質中的膠原蛋白發生了變化。

    Collagen, a fibrous protein found in connective tissue, bone and cartilage, basically holds the body together. The loss of collagen is what causes sagging and deep wrinkles in older people.

    膠原蛋白是存在于結締組織、骨質和軟骨中的纖維蛋白質，它的基本作用是將人體各組織結合在一起。膠原蛋白的喪失是導致老年人皮膚松弛和深度皺紋的原因。

    The process affected, Werman's team said, is known as "cross linking". "Too much cross-linking reduces elasticity and makes the skin stiff and rigid, and these are the conditions that encourage wrinkled skin," Werman said in a statement. He said the same could be true of people, although this has not been shown. "Americans are eating more and more processed foods such as carbonated drinks, baked goods, canned fruits, jams and dairy products that contain fructose," Werman said. Other studies have shown that high fructose intake can affect how the body handles glucose and increases insulin resistance---- which can both be important measures of the tendency toward diabetes.

    沃曼領導的研究小組把膠原蛋白的喪失引起的生理變化稱作"交叉相聯"。沃曼在一次報告中說："太多的'交叉相聯'就會使皮膚降低彈性，發生硬化，這是導致皮膚起皺紋的原因。"他說，人也可能是如此，盡管還沒有證據證明這一點。他又說："美國人攝取的加工食品越來越多，例如碳酸飲料、烘烤食品、罐裝水果、果醬和乳制品，而這些食品都含有果糖。"其他的一些研究已經表明，大量攝取果糖會影響人體對葡萄糖的代謝和增強對胰島素的抵抗力，而這兩者是判斷患糖尿病可能性的重要指標。

    The rats Werman worked with were fed much more than the average adult person might eat in a day, which is standard in such experiments. The rats were fed 12.5 grams of fructose per kg (2.2 pounds) of weight every day for a year. To compare, a person weighing 154 pounds (70kg) who drinks a quart (liter) of cola consumes about 60 grams of fructose, or 0.8 grams per kg of body weight.

    沃曼喂養的老鼠攝取的果糖比普通成人每天可能攝取的果糖多的多，這在此類實驗中是符合標準的。在一年的時間里，這些老鼠每天按每千克（2.2磅）體重12.5克的標準攝取果糖。與此相比，一個體重154磅（70千克）的人，喝一夸脫（升）的可樂，大約攝取了60克的果糖，或者說每千克體重攝取0.8克的果糖。