沈立言說：「You are what you eat」，建議60公斤者每天吃5公克生大蒜，就有預防心血管疾病的潛力。若已被檢測為易生成氧化三甲胺的體質，還是少吃紅肉，才是最佳保健之道。
該研究由科技部補助，研究成果目前已取得台灣與美國先期專利，並獲刊於國際腸胃醫學知名期刊《Gut》。科技部表示，目前吳明賢教授團隊正與心臟科合作，將實際運用於心血管病人進行臨床研究，觀察飲食控制對心血管病人腸道菌生成TMAO能力的影響，未來將進一步利用藥物、益生菌、益生質，甚至益生菌代謝物，開發新一代心血管疾病預防與治療方法。
（旺報 李侑珊）
(CNN)While the wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest may constitute an "international crisis," they are hardly an accident.
The vast majority of the fires have been set by loggers and ranchers to
clear land for cattle. The practice is on the rise, encouraged by Jair
Bolsonaro, Brazil's populist pro-business president, who is backed by
the country's so-called "beef caucus."
While this may be business as usual for Brazil's beef farmers, the rest of the world is looking on in horror.
So,
for those wondering how they could help save the rainforest, known as
"the planet's lungs" for producing about 20% of the world's oxygen, the
answer may be simple. Eat less meat.
It's
an idea that Finland has already floated. On Friday, the Nordic
country's finance minister called for the European Union to "urgently
review the possibility of banning Brazilian beef imports" over the
Amazon fires.
Brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef, providing close to 20% of the total global exports, according the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) -- a figure that could rise in the coming years.
Last
year the country shipped 1.64 million tonnes of beef -- the highest
volume in history -- generating $6.57 billion in revenue, according to
the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (Abiec), an association of more than 30 Brazilian meat-packing companies.
The
growth of Brazil's beef industry has been driven in part by strong
demand from Asia -- mostly China and Hong Kong. These two markets alone
accounted for nearly 44% of all beef exports from Brazil in 2018, according to the USDA.
And a trade deal struck in June
between South America's Mercosur bloc of countries and the European
Union could open up even more markets for Brazil's beef-packing
industry.
Speaking after the
agreement as announced, the head of Abiec, Antônio Camardelli, said the
pact could help Brazil gain access to prospective new markets, like
Indonesia and Thailand, while boosting sales with existing partners,
like the EU. "A deal of this magnitude is like an invitation card for
speaking with other countries and trade blocs," Camardelli told Reuters in July.
Once implemented, the deal will lift a 20% levy on beef imports into the EU.
But, on Friday, Ireland said it was ready to block the deal unless Brazil took action on the Amazon.
In
a statement Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar described as "Orewellian"
Bolsonaro's attempt to blame the fires on environmental groups.
Varadkar said that Ireland will monitor Brazil's environmental actions
to determine whether to block the Mercosur deal, which is two years
away.
He added Irish and European
farmers could not be told to use fewer pesticides and respect
biodiversity when trade deals were being made with countries not
subjected to "decent environmental, labor and product standards."
In
June, before the furor over the rainforest began, the Irish Farmers
Association called on Ireland not to ratify the deal, arguing its terms
would disadvantage European beef farmers.
And, with that growth, comes steep environmental costs.
Brazil's
space research center (INPE) said this week that the number of fires in
Brazil is 80% higher than last year. More than half are in the Amazon
region, spelling disaster for the local environment and ecology.
Alberto
Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, told CNN that the burning can range
from a small-scale agricultural practice, to new deforestation for
mechanized and modern agribusiness projects.
Farmers
wait until the dry season to start burning and clearing areas so their
cattle can graze, but this year's destruction has been described as
unprecedented. Environmental campaigners blame this uptick on Bolsonaro,
who they say has encouraged ranchers, farmers, and loggers to exploit
and burn the rainforest like never before with a sense of impunity.
Brush fires burn in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso on August 20.
Bolsonaro has dismissed accusations of responsibility for the fires, but a clear shift seems to be underway.
Beef is responsible for 41% of livestock greenhouse gas emissions, and that livestock accounts for 14.5%
of total global emissions. And methane -- the greenhouse gas cattle
produce from both ends -- is 25 times more potent that carbon dioxide.
An alarming report released last year by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
report, said changing our diets could contribute 20% of the effort
needed to keep global temperatures from rising 2°C above pre-industrial
levels. Namely, eating less meat.
Still,
global consumption of beef and veal is set to rise in the next decade
according to projections from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of
the United Nations (FAO).
A joint report predicted global production would increase 16% between 2017 and 2027 to meet demand.
The majority of that expansion will be in developing countries, like Brazil.
李奧納多23日在個人社群發布照片，亞馬遜森林火勢相當猛烈，橘色火光清晰可見，濃濃白煙不斷向上竄，幾乎壟罩整片天空，他也在文中引用巴西國家空間研究機構(National Institute for Space Research)的數據，提到野火已經延燒超過2週，在這之前，亞馬遜雨林光是今年就發生7萬4千多起森林火災，比去年的同一時間還要增加84%，影響上百萬原住民以及3百多萬物種。李奧納多也在文內強調「亞馬遜比我們需要得更多」，呼籲網友們踴躍捐款給相關環保團體，由於牛隻是驅使森林砍伐的主要因素之一，他也提醒大家減少牛肉的消耗量。
阿根廷總統府宣布承諾在每週一改吃純素。總統府裡的554名員工，包括總統毛里西奧·馬克里(Mauricio
Macri)，決定每週一將動物產品從飲食裡排除，以使環境受益，並開始就阿根廷公民高膳食飲食健康問題進行談話。阿根廷總統府秘書長費爾南多·德·安德烈斯(Fernando
de Andreis)解釋說：「唯一能保護我們免受不健康飲食的東西就是改變的我們行為。」
探索專家布特納(Dan
Buettner)2005年底在《國家地理雜誌》(National Geographic Magazine)發表「活得長久的秘密」(The
Secrets of a Long
Life)引起熱烈迴響，當期雜誌銷售量衝上創刊以來第三高的紀錄。布特納把全球住著最多長壽人口的這些地帶取名為「藍色區域」(Blue
Zones)，其中唯一一個座落於美國境內的，就是加州洛馬林達。 加州洛馬林達居民異常長壽，歸功於當地人注重健康的生活方式。圖為馬林達的長者一同健身。取自洛馬林達大學網站
全球最長壽的五個「藍色區域」，包括了日本沖繩(Okinawa)、義大利薩丁尼亞島(Island
of Sardinia)、哥斯大黎加尼科亞半島(Nicoya
Peninsula)、希臘伊卡里亞(Icaria)、加州洛馬林達。「藍色區域」民眾罹患糖尿病、心臟病或老年失智的比例較其他地區來得低，布特納歸納整理指出，這些區域民眾的共同點包括：積極樂觀且懂得調解壓力，不抽菸，日常生活維持適量運動，較少吃肉，飲食以大量蔬菜水果為主，主食通常是全穀類，飲食習慣偏向於高纖、低油、低糖、低鹽，很少吃過度油炸的食物或醃燻食品、垃圾食物。
布特納與研究夥伴、洛馬林達大學公共衛生學院(Loma
Linda University School of Public Health)註冊營養師兼營養專家魏斯特爾達霍爾(John
Westerdahl)在洛馬林達的實地調查研究中發現，基督復臨安息日會教友基本上吃素，三餐飲食內容可以說是來自「伊甸園」(Garden of
Eden)。 素食。 圖／ingimage
