單純喝酒不會讓人長胖,飯菜纔是真兇大綱

It isn't just the beer that contributes to beer bellies. It could also be the extra calories, fat and unhealthy eating choices that may come with moderate drinking.

啤酒肚的形成並不只是因爲啤酒本身。飲酒會使人攝入額外的卡路里和脂肪、選擇不健康的飲食，這些也都是形成啤酒肚的幫兇。

A recent study found that men consume an additional 433 calories (equivalent to a McDonald's double cheeseburger) on days they drink a moderate amount of alcohol. About 61% of the caloric increase comes from the alcohol itself. Men also report eating higher amounts of saturated fats and meat, and less fruit and milk, on those days than on days when they aren't drinking, the study showed.

近期一項研究發現，男性在飲酒量適中的情況下，會額外攝入433卡路里熱量（相當於一個麥當勞雙層吉士漢堡）。約61%的多餘熱量來自酒類本身。研究還表明，男性在飲酒時會比平日攝入更多飽和脂肪和肉類，而減少水果和牛奶的食用量。

Women fared a bit better, taking in an extra 300 calories on moderate-drinking days, from the alcohol and eating fattier foods. But women's increase in calories from additional eating wasn't statistically significant, the study said.

女性的情況略好，適量飲酒時會多攝入300卡路里，來源於酒和油膩食物。研究也指出，從數據上來看，女性因食物攝入量增加而造成的熱量攝入增加並不顯著。

'Men and women ate less healthily on days they drank alcohol,' said Rosalind Breslow, an epidemiologist with the federal National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and lead author of the study. 'Poorer food choices on drinking days have public-health implications,' she said.

流行病學家羅莎琳德・佈雷斯洛(Rosalind Breslow)說：“男性和女性喝酒的時候吃得都不太健康。”她是這項研究的帶頭人，效力於美國國家酒精濫用及酗酒問題研究所(National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)。她說：“是飲酒時的食物選擇不當給公衆健康造成了隱患。”

The findings dovetail with controlled lab studies in which participants generally eat more food after consuming alcohol. Researchers suggest that alcohol may enhance 'the short-term rewarding effects' of consuming food, according to a 2010 report in the journal Physiology & Behavior that reviewed previous studies on alcohol, appetite and obesity.

研究發現與實驗室對照實驗相吻合，在實驗中，參與者往往在喝酒之後食量更大。《生理學與行爲學》(Physiology & Behavior)期刊在2010年發表了一項關於酒精、食慾與肥胖的報告，研究者認爲酒精會增進攝入食物時的“短期獎賞效應”。

But other studies have pointed to a different trend. Moderate drinkers gain less weight over time than either heavy drinkers or people who abstain from alcohol, particularly women, this research has shown. Moderate drinking is considered having about two drinks a day for men and one for women.

但是其他研究的結果卻截然相反。一項研究表明，長期以來，適量飲酒的人體重增長比酒量大或者滴酒不沾的人更慢，特別是在女性羣體中。適量飲酒指的是，男性每天大約喝兩杯酒，女性爲一杯。

'People who gain the least weight are moderate drinkers, regardless of [alcoholic] beverage choice,' said Eric Rimm, an associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the 2010 review of alcohol in the federal dietary guidelines. The weight-gain difference is modest, and 'starting to drink is not a weight-loss diet,' he said.

埃裏克・利姆(Eric Rimm)說：“體重增長最少的人都是適量飲酒的人，無論選擇的是何種（酒精）飲料。”他是哈佛醫學院(Harvard Medical School)流行病學與營養學副教授，也是2010年美國飲食指南酒類評論的主席。他說，體重增長的差異並不顯著，所以“開始喝酒並不是個減肥辦法。”

The various research efforts form part of a long-standing debate about how alcohol affects people's appetites, weight and overall health. Researchers say there aren't simple answers, and suggest that individuals' metabolism, drinking patterns and gender may play a role.

各種各樣的研究促成了持久的爭論：到底酒精是如何作用於人的食慾、體重和整體健康的。研究者們說答案並不是單一的，每個人的新陳代謝、飲酒方式和性別都會有一定的影響。

Alcohol is 'a real wild card when it comes to weight management,' said Karen Miller-Kovach, chief scientific officer of Weight Watchers International. At seven calories per gram, alcohol is closer to fat than to carbohydrate or protein in caloric content, she said. Alcohol tends to lower restraint, she notes, causing a person to become more indulgent with what they're eating.

Weight Watchers International首席科學官卡倫・米勒-科瓦奇(Karen Miller-Kovach)說，酒精的確是“控制體重時的一個未知數” 。她說，以每克七卡路里來計算，酒精的卡路里含量比起碳水化合物和蛋白質更接近脂肪。她還提到，酒精會減弱人們的自制力，這使得人在吃東西時更加放縱自己。

Research bolstering the role of moderate drinking in helping to control weight gain was published in 2004 in the journal Obesity Research. That study followed nearly 50,000 women over eight years. An earlier study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1994, followed more than 7,000 people for 10 years and found that moderate drinkers gained less weight than nondrinkers. Studies comparing changes in waist circumference among different groups have yielded similar results.

《肥胖研究》(Obesity Research)期刊在2004年發表的一項研究肯定了適度飲酒在幫助控制體重增長中的作用。這項研究在八年間追蹤了近50,000名女性。更早的一項研究發表於1994年的《美國流行病學雜誌》(American Journal of Epidemiology)，該研究對7,000人進行了10年的追蹤，並發現適量飲酒的人比不喝酒的人體重增長得更少。兩項研究都對不同組別腰圍的變化進行了比較，並得出了相似的結論。

Dr. Rimm said it isn't clear why moderate drinking may be protective against typical weight gain, but it could have to do with metabolic adjustments. After people drink alcohol, their heart rate increases so they burn more calories in the following hour.

利姆說適量飲酒者似乎可以抵抗一般的體重增長，其原因尚不明確，但可能與代謝調節有關。人們飲酒後，心跳加快，所以他們會在接下來的一小時裏燃燒更多卡路里。

'It's a modest amount,' he said. 'But if you take an individual that eats 100 calories instead of a glass of wine, the person drinking the glass of wine will have a slight increase in the amount of calories burned.'

“這一消耗量並不算高”，他說。“但是如果一個人吃了100卡食物，而另一個人喝了一杯酒，喝酒的人消耗的卡路里會略多一些。”

Food choices could also play a role. Some studies suggest that women who drink alcohol eat fewer sweet foods, possibly because alcohol stimulates the same pleasure center in the brain as sweets, said Dr. Rimm. That isn't seen as consistently in men.

酒後對於食物的選擇也有一定影響。利姆說，一些研究表明，女性在飲酒後較少吃甜食，很可能是由於酒精與甜食一樣刺激了腦部愉悅中樞。這一點在男性身上並無明顯規律。

Men have more of the alcohol dehydrogenase group of enzymes that metabolize some alcohol in the stomach than women, said Andrea N. Giancoli, spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a professional organization.

安德烈婭・N・詹科利(Andrea N. Giancoli)說，相較於女性，男性體內擁有更多乙醇脫氫?，可將胃裏的酒精分解代謝。她是專業機構營養與飲食學會(Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)的新聞發言人。

One theory for what this might mean is that women's bodies divert alcohol not being broken down in the stomach to a different metabolic pathway that results in more calories being burned, said Ms. Giancoli, a registered dietitian near Los Angeles. As a result, fewer calories from alcohol may be stored in women as fat, she said.

這位身處洛杉磯附近的營養學家詹科利還說，有一個理論可以解釋這種說法，女性的身體會將酒精轉移，而不是在胃裏分解輸送到不同的代謝通道，這會導致消耗更多卡路里。她說，結果是，較少的來自酒類中的卡路里會被轉化爲脂肪儲存於女性體內。

Another factor is drinking patterns. A 2005 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology looked at data from 45,896 drinkers. It found that as the quantity of drinking increased from one to four drinks in a day, the subjects' body-mass index increased.

另一個影響因素是飲酒習慣。《美國流行病學雜誌》2005年的一項研究參照了45,896名飲酒者的數據。結果表明，隨着每日飲酒量從一杯到四杯逐漸遞增，飲酒者的身體質量指數也會上升。

'People who drank the least often but drank more on the days that they drank had higher BMI,' said Dr. Breslow, who co-authored the study.

研究合着者佈雷斯洛說：“平時很少喝酒但偶爾大量飲酒的人身體質量指數更高。”

Dr. Breslow's latest study, which found caloric intake increases with moderate drinking, didn't look at associations between alcohol and body weight or track food choices and diets over time. She suggested that people who increase their caloric intake with moderate drinking one day might compensate the next day by consuming less.

佈雷斯洛的最新研究發現，卡路里吸收會因適量飲酒而增多，但研究並未考察酒精和體重之間的聯繫，也未追蹤食物選擇和長時間的飲食規律。她認爲因適量飲酒而攝入了更多卡路里的人會在第二天少吃一點作爲彌補。

The study, which appeared in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and included 1,864 mostly moderate drinkers.

這項研究發表於5月的《美國臨牀營養學雜誌》（American Journal of Clinical Nutrition），其對美國國家健康與營養檢測調查(National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey)中1,864名通常適量飲酒的人的數據進行了分析。

Another study, which looked at data from nearly 16,000 individuals over a year, concluded that as alcohol consumption increased there was a decline in diet quality.

另一項研究參考了近16,000人全年的數據，得出的結論是飲食的質量隨着酒精攝入量的增加而降低。

That research was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2010.

這項研究刊登在2010年的《美國營養協會雜誌》(Journal of the American Dietetic Association)上。

David Jensen, a 56-year-old who considers himself overweight, says cutting his daily drink or two helped him reduce nighttime snacking. 'You have a glass of wine and then it's, oh man, I need cheese with that, or I need chocolate. You end up eating all this other stuff,' said Mr. Jensen, who lives near Seattle and works as a translator for financial clients.

今年56歲的大衛・詹森(David Jensen)認爲自己體重超標，他說減少日常飲酒量有助於少吃夜宵。詹森說：“如果你喝了一杯酒，就會想，哎呀，我需要配一塊奶酪下酒，或者我要一塊巧克力。”他住在西雅圖附近，爲金融客戶提供翻譯服務。

Last year he stopped drinking for five months and lost just over 10 pounds 'with really no effort,' Mr. Jensen said.

詹森說，去年他戒酒五個月，體重“不費吹灰之力”地減輕10磅有餘（約合4.5公斤）。

But once he started drinking again his weight went up and he is back to where he started.

但是當他重新開始喝酒時，體重立刻反彈回到了原點。