Bad news for Britons: adding milk to tea ruins the health benefits of the drink, according to a new German study.
Tea has complex compounds called polyphenols which are believed to help the arteries to relax or dilate, thus enabling a smoother flow of blood.
Scientists led at the Charite Hospital in Berlin tested black Darjeeling tea on 16 healthy women volunteers aged over 50, placing an ultrasound probe on their forearm to measure arterial response.
PHOTO: AP
When the women drank half a liter of tea, their arteries relaxed significantly more than when they drank hot water or tea with milk — tea in which skim milk, comprising 10 percent of the drink's volume, was added.
The results were confirmed in lab-dish tests on rat aorta.
The study, which appears online in the European Heart Journal, points the finger of blame at three casein proteins in the milk. These are thought to adhere to a kind of polyphenols known as catechins, preventing them from carrying out their health-making work.
This could explain why Britain, a nation passionate about tea-drinking but where almost everybody adds milk to their cup, fails to make headway against cardiovascular disease, said researcher Verena Stangl.
The study did not cover green tea, which is widely drunk in East Asia — without milk.(AFP)
對英國人來說是壞消息︰根據德國一項新出爐的研究，茶中加奶會破壞茶類的健康效益。
茶葉中含有一種「茶多酚」的複合物，據信可以協助動脈鬆弛或擴張，讓血液循環更暢通。
柏林的查利特醫院頂尖科學家檢驗了十六名自願飲用大吉嶺紅茶的年逾半百健康女性，在她們前臂放置超音波感測器，測量其動脈反應。
這些女性飲用半公升的茶時，其動脈較飲用熱水或奶茶（添加總容量百分之十的脫脂牛奶）時明顯鬆弛。
經實驗皿測驗老鼠的主動脈後，這項結果證實無誤。
《歐洲心臟雜誌》網站上的這份研究指出，這要歸咎於牛奶的三種乾酪素蛋白。它們會依附在一種名為「兒茶素」的茶多酚上， 阻止兒茶素進行健康工作。
研究員維若納．史丹格說，這解釋了為何熱愛飲茶的英國，雖然人人幾乎都在杯中加奶，卻無助於防治心血管疾病。
這份研究並未涵蓋在東亞廣受歡迎的綠茶—不加奶的綠茶。 （法新社/翻譯：賴美君）
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是，提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊？ A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理！ B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊，其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Continued from yesterday（延續自昨日） https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後，文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上，需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說，像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的，造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此，許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋，但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及，確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過，在未來的許多年裡，左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of
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