研究顯示夏季出生的孩子更健康

People born in the summer are more likely to be healthy than those who arrive during other times of the year, new research suggests.

新研究顯示，夏季出生的人要比別的季節出生的人更爲健康。

The phenomenon could be caused by mothers getting more sun in pregnancy - and passing on higher quantities of vitamin D to their unborn infant.

導致此類現象的原因可能是母親在孕期接受的日照更多，然後將大量的維生素D傳輸給了他們還未出生的嬰兒。

A study of almost half a million British adults found babies born in June, July, and August were heavier at birth and taller as adults.

英國境內一項研究約有50萬成人蔘與，其結果顯示：在六、七和八月出生的小寶寶們在出生時體重更重，成年後身高也更高。

For the first time the research also revealed girls born in the summer started puberty later - an indication of better health in adult life.

這項調查首次揭示，夏天出生的女孩的青春期會開始得較晚，這意味着他們在成年後身體會更健康。

Early puberty in girls has been linked with a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease or breast cancer.

女孩過早地經歷青春期通常都和糖尿病、心臟病或者乳腺癌聯繫起來。

Study author Dr John Perry, of Cambridge University, said: 'When you were conceived and born occurs largely "at random".

研究作者約翰·派瑞博士來自劍橋大學，他表示“你是在什麼時候受孕，什麼時候出生通常都是'隨機’的”。

'It's not affected by social class, your parents' ages or their health - so looking for patterns with birth month is a powerful study design to identify influences of the environment before birth.'

這和社會階層，父母年齡和他們的身體狀況都沒什麼關係——所以，探尋出生月份的模式這一研究，對於弄清出生前環境對於嬰兒的影響至關重要。

His team compared the growth and development of around 450,000 men and women from the UK Biobank study - a major national health resource that provides data on UK volunteers to shed light on the development of diseases.

他的團隊比較了約45萬名男女的成長和發展，數據均來自英國生物庫。英國生物庫是英國主要國家衛生資源，提供了全國志願者的數據，來幫助人們瞭解各種疾病的發展。

Previous research has shown children born between June and October are likely to be slightly taller and have bigger bones than winter-born children - believed to be related to vitamin D exposure during pregnancy.

先前的調查已經表明：與冬天出生的孩子相比，六月到十月之間出生的孩子長得更高，骨骼發育得更好的可能性稍大，研究者相信這和母親孕期攝入維生素D有關。

Babies born in autumn and winter are more likely to develop food allergies - with sunlight exposure during pregnancy and vitamin D levels also thought to play a role in this.

秋冬季出生的小寶寶們患上食物過敏的可能性也更大——據認爲與孕期日曬時間和維生素D的攝入量有關係。

Asthma is also more common in autumn-born children - and one theory for this is increased exposure to allergens, such as house dust mites, during the first few months of life - because of the worse weather.

哮喘在秋季出生的寶寶中也更常見——其中的一項理論支撐就是此時過敏原更多，比如屋塵蟎，因爲出生後的頭幾個月天氣比較糟糕。

The team found that children born in the summer were slightly heavier at birth, taller as adults and went through puberty slightly later than those born in winter months.

研究組發現：與冬季出生的孩子相比，夏季出生的孩子在剛出生時體重更重，成年後身高更高，而且青春期也來得比較晚。

They believe the differences between babies born in summer and winter could be down to how much sunlight the mother gets during pregnancy - since that in part determines her vitamin D exposure.

他們認爲，造成夏季和冬季出生的寶寶之間的區別的原因就是他們在媽媽孕期受到的日照不同，因爲那在某種程度上決定了她所吸收的維生素D。

As early as the 1930s researchers noticed children born in winter were more prone to health problems later in life - slower growth, mental illness and even early death.

早在20世紀30年代，研究人員就發現冬季出生的孩子在日後更容易產生健康問題——發育遲緩，精神疾病以及早死。

Among the proposed explanations were diseases, harsh temperatures and higher pollution levels associated with winter when those expectant mothers and near-term foetuses might be most vulnerable.

研究人員給出的解釋是冬天疾病氾濫，天氣苦寒，污染濃度高，而此時的準媽媽和待產的寶寶們往往都非常脆弱。

But being born in summer can have drawbacks - such as an increased risk of short-sightedness.

但在夏季出生也有一些缺點，比如近視的可能性就比較大。

It's thought sunshine interferes with the delicate development of the eye - making focusing difficult and distant objects appear blurred.

研究人員認爲陽光和眼睛的發育密不可分，它讓眼睛聚焦變難，看遠處的物體也比較模糊。