Sunshine & Cancer
Although too much exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays1) can cause skin cancer,sunshine may have a protective effect against some cancers,U.S.scientists said in April.They suspect vitamin D,the so-called sunshine vitamin that is also found in fortified2) milk and dairy products,cod liver oil and some fatty fish,can help to slow down the speed at which cancer cells divide.“This study found inverse associations between both residential and occupational exposure to sunlight and mortality3) from female breast and colon cancers,”said Dr.Michael Freedman of the National Cancer Institute.
In research reported in Occupational and Environ-mental Medicine,Freedman and his team studied deaths from breast,ovarian4),colon5),prostate6) and skin cancers in 24U.S.states between 1984and 1995to determine the impact of sunlight on t he diseases.Not surprisingly they found more deaths from skin cancer in sunnier states but the number of people who died from the other cancers was lower in the sunshine areas.Working outdoors in a sunny climate was also associated with fewer breast and colon cancer deaths but not with the other cancers.Freed man said more research is needed to explain the association between sunlight and certain cancers.
陽光致癌亦防癌
美國科學家今年4月說,盡管過多的太陽紫外線照射可能導致皮膚癌,但陽光對某些癌癥卻有一定預防作用。他們認為,維生素D,也就是所謂的陽光維生素有助于減緩癌癥細胞分裂的速度。維生素D在強化牛奶和奶制品、魚肝油和某些脂肪多的魚類中的含量也較為豐富。國家癌癥研究所邁克爾·弗里德曼博士說:“研究發(fā)現,在住宅和工作場所接受陽光照射的程度與女性乳腺和結腸癌死亡率成反比。”
在發(fā)表于《職業(yè)和環(huán)境醫(yī)學》上的一項研究中,弗里德曼和他的小組調查了從1984年到1995年美國24個州乳腺癌、卵巢癌、結腸癌、前列腺癌和皮膚癌的死亡率,以研究陽光對疾病的作用。不出意料,他們發(fā)現,陽光充足的州皮膚癌的死亡率較高,但這些地區(qū)其他癌癥的死亡率卻低得多。晴朗的天氣中在戶外工作也可以降低乳腺癌和結腸癌的死亡率,但對其他癌癥沒有類似作用。弗里德曼說,對于陽光與某些癌癥的關系還需要進一步研究證實。
NOTE 注釋:
ultraviolet ray[5QltrE5vaiElit rei] n. 紫外線輻射
fortified [5fC:tifaid] adj. 加強的
mortality [mC:5tAliti] n. 死亡率
ovarian [Eu5vZEriEn] n. [解]卵巢
colon [5kEJlEn] n. 〈解〉結腸
prostate [5prCsteit] n. 前列腺