托福阅读材料之日常饮食和DNA是“命中注定”的.docxVIP

智课网TOEFL备考资料 托福阅读材料之日常饮食与DNA是“命中注定”的 You are what you eat, or so the saying goes. But a new generation of molecular biologists is starting to give that old adage a decidedly high-tech twist.  俗话说：“吃什么像什么”。新一代分子生物学家正着手给这句话作一明白无误的高科技解读。  By combining the latest discoveries in human genetics with a deeper understanding of the hundreds of compounds found in food, investigators have begun to tease apart some of the more complex interactions between your diet and your DNA. In the process, they hope eventually to give consumers more personalized advice about what to eat and drink to stave off heart disease, cancer and other chronic conditions of aging.  结合人类遗传学的必威体育精装版发现和对食物中数百种化合物的进一步了解，研究者已经开始解析人们的日常饮食和DNA之间更为复杂的相互作用???通过这一研究，他们希望最终能为消费者提供一些更个性化的建议，即应如何健康饮食以避免和延缓心脏疾病、癌症和其他老年慢性病。  We are trying to put more science behind the nutrition, says Jose Ordovas, a geneticist at the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts. We want to finally understand why nutrients do what they do and to whom--why a low-fat diet may not work for some but works for others.  塔夫茨大学弗里德曼营养学院的基因学家乔斯·奥多维斯说，“我们想让饮食更科学，想彻底弄明白营养成分为什么起作用，对谁起作用——为什么低脂饮食只对一部分人有效。”  Do you drink three cups or more of coffee a day? Genetic tests can now determine whether you--like approximately 10% to 20% of the population--have a specific genetic variation that makes it harder for your body to absorb calcium in the presence of caffeine, thus increasing your rate of bone loss.  你是否每天要喝三杯以上的咖啡？现在遗传学测试能够确定你这样的人——约占人口的10%到20%——体内是否有某种基因变体，导致你的身体在有咖啡因时更难吸收钙质，从而加速骨质流失。  Are you getting enough folic acid, found in beans, peas and fortified grains? Researchers have learned that many people have a genetic predisposition that puts them at greater risk of developing heart disease because they need more folic acid than the average person to maintain normal blood chemistry.  你是否摄取了足够的叶酸？叶酸存在于蚕豆、豌豆和强化谷物里。研究者们已经意识到许多人都有一种遗传性易患病体质，使他们更易患心脏疾病，因为他们需要比正常人摄入更多的叶酸来维持正常的血液化学作用。