吃意大利麪的時候加點番茄醬或能降低患癌風險大綱

Tomatoes are good for you for All kinds of reasons - and one of the main ones is they're rich in lycopene which gives tomatoes their red colour. It's an antioxidant and is thought to protect against cancer, in particular prostate cancer.

番茄有益人體健康，原因多樣--主要是因爲番茄富含番茄紅素，所以呈現出紅色。番茄紅素是一種抗氧化劑，人們認爲它可以預防癌症，尤其是前列腺癌。

Interestingly lycopene can be more readily utilised by the body if the tomatoes are cooked and especially if they're concentrated, like when you make a pasta sauce, or in the form of ketchup！

有意思的是，若番茄處於煮熟的，尤其是濃縮的狀態（比如做意大利麪醬或番茄醬的時候），番茄紅素更容易被人體吸收。

Spanish scientists found cooked tomato sauce boosts the levels of healthy bacteria in the gut and tomatoes have a better probiotic effect when fried into a sauce. Scientists at the Universitat ?Politècnica de València studied how digestion affects the antioxidants - substances which help protect cells from damage - in tomato sauce.

西班牙科學家發現，煮熟的番茄醬能增加腸道中有益菌的水平，帶來更多的益生菌。巴侖西亞理工大學的科學家研究了消化系統對番茄醬中抗氧化劑的影響--保護細胞免受傷害的物質。

They found cooked tomato sauce was better than raw tomatoes because cooking preserves the lycopene and also makes it more concentrated. This is important because it means more of the lycopene survives the digestive process and goes on to be absorbed by the body.

他們發現，煮熟的番茄醬的效果比生番茄的效果更好，因爲烹飪的過程保留了番茄紅素，並使其更爲聚集。這一點很重要，因爲這意味着在消化過程中，更多的番茄紅素得以存活，進而被身體吸收。

This boosts the probiotic effect of tomatoes - encouraging the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut. The researchers also examined lactobacillus reuteri - one of the most important bacteria for a healthy gut - which occurs naturally in the body.

這增強了番茄的益生菌效果--促進腸道中有益菌的生長。研究員還對羅伊式乳桿菌展開了研究--對於健康腸道而言，這是最爲重要的細菌之一--羅伊式乳桿菌由身體自然形成。

Although the L. reuteri stops some antioxidants being absorbed from the tomato, those antioxidants help the bacteria to be more effective in the gut. These positive effects of the boosted L. reuteri outweigh the fact that it stops antioxidants being absorbed, the team concluded. We know tomatoes are healthy, and previous research has claimed that eating them helps to slow stomach cancer - probably because they inhibit cell growth.

該研究團隊總結道，儘管羅伊式乳桿菌阻礙了人體對番茄中某些抗氧化劑的吸收（這些抗氧化劑有助於促進腸道細菌的健康），但增加的羅伊式乳桿菌含量所帶來的積極影響遠甚於其阻礙抗氧化劑被人體吸收的事實。我們知道番茄有益健康，先前的研究也聲稱吃番茄有助於緩解胃癌--可能是因爲它們抑制了細胞的生長。

The researchers analysed whole tomato extracts for their effect on gastric cancer. The results revealed they put the brakes on a cancer cell's ability to spread and develop, as well as leading to their death.

研究員分析了整個番茄提取物對胃癌的影響。結果顯示，它們能抑制癌細胞的擴散和發展，而且還可以導致癌細胞死亡。

Study author Italian cancer specialist Daniela Barone said the effect of eating tomatoes "seem not related to specific components, such as lycopene, but rather suggest that tomatoes should be considered in their entirety."

Daniela Barone是本研究的作者，也是一位意大利癌症專家，她表示：吃番茄的效果"似乎與番茄紅素等特定成分無關，而是受整體成分的影響。"