中国"雷公藤"植物治愈所有肥胖问题?

Thunder god vine, a traditional Chinese medicinal plant.

雷公藤，一种传统的中药植物。
哈佛：中国“雷公藤”植物治愈所有肥胖问题.png

Scientists have been scouring the world in recent decades for all manner of miracle plants that can help people slim down. As the market for weight-loss products and supplements has grown to a multi-billion-di liar industry, they've looked at dandelions, coffee and nuts, among other things. They've been cultivatin g an edible succulent called the caralluma fimbriata chewed by tribesmen in rural India to control their hunger during a day's hunt. And they have been trying to isolate and extract whatever it is in an African plant called hoodia, which looks like a spikey pickle, that tricks you into feeling full even if you hav en.t eaten a bite.

近几十年来科学家们一直在世界各地寻找各种各样的可以帮助人们减肥的神奇植物。随着减肥产品和补充剂的市场已经发展成为一个数十亿美元的产业，他们一路査看了蒲公英，咖啡，坚果等等。他们一直在培养可食用的多汁植物称为“印度仙人掌”，是印度农村部落在结束了一天的捕猎之后用来咀嚼控制饥饿的，他们一直在试图分离和提取一个被称之为“蝴蝶亚”的与非洲植物，想査明里面究竟有些什么，这个与非洲之物看起来像一个泡菜的图片，能欺骗你，让你有饱腹感，即使你根本连一口都没有吃过。
But none of these has been more promising in early studies than a traditional Chinese medicine known as thunder god vine.
但是在这些植物上的早期研究都没有传统的中药植物雷公藤更有前途。
In a paper published in the journal Cell on Thursday, scientists said an extract made from the plant reduces food intake and has led to a dramatic 45 percent decrease in body weight in obese mice.
于周四在《细胞》杂志上发表的一篇论文中，科学家说从该植物中提取的一小部分，使得肥胖老鼠减少了食物的摄取量，还导致其体重急剧下降了45%。
Study author Omut Ozcan, an endocrinologist at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said the substance appears to work by enhancing a fat-derived hormone called leptin that signals to the body when it has enough fuel and energy. Humans who lack leptin, can eat voraciously and can become morbidly obese.
该项研究的作者，波士顿儿童医院和哈佛医学院的内分泌学家Omut Ozcan说，该种物质能够有效提高脂肪源性激素，也称之为瘦素，当身体有了足够的燃料和能量之后，是瘦素向身体发出信号的。缺乏瘦素的人，会狼吞虎咽地吃东西，然后变成病态肥胖。
"During the last two decades, there has been an enormous amount of effort to treat obesity by breaking down leptin resistance, but these efforts have failed. The message from this study is that there is still hope for making leptin work," Ozcan said in a statement.
"在过去二十年里,在打碎瘦素的抵抗从而治疗肥胖上作出了大量的努力,但这些努力都失败了。这项研究给出的信息就是,使瘦素起效果仍然是有希望的,"Ozcan在一份声明中说。
In the study, Ozcan found that with only one week of treatment with an extract made from thunder god v; e — which they called Celastrol — the mice reduced their food intake by 80 percent as compared with tho se who did not get the extract. Three weeks later, those mice had lost nearly half of their initial body weight.
Ozcan在这项研究中发现只用雷公藤的提取物(他们将其称之为雷公藤红素)进行了一个星期的治疗,老鼠的食物摄入量 ,就比那些没有使用提取物的老鼠的摄入量少了80%。三周后,这些使用了提取物的老鼠甩掉了将近它们原本体重的一半。
The results were even more effective than a drastic measure used to reduce weight: bariatric surgery. In addition, scientists reported that they saw other positive health effects from decreased cholesterol lev els to improved liver functions.
这一结果甚至比过去所使用的釜底抽薪的减肥方式，减肥手术更有效。此外，科学家还报道说从中他们还看到了对健康方面的其他的积极的影响，可以降低胆固醇水平和改善肝脏功能。
While the team did not find any toxic effects of the extract in mice, the researchers strongly cautioned that more studies needed to be done to demonstrate the compound's safety in humans.
因为该团队还未发现该提取物对小老鼠有任何毒性作用，但研究人员强烈警告说，还需要做更多的研究来证明这种混合物对人体而言是安全的。
"Celastrol is found in the roots of the thunder god vine in small amounts, but the plant's roots and flowers have many other compounds," Ozcan said. "As a result, it could be dangerous for humans."
"雷公藤红素只存在于雷公藤的根中，而且量很少,但该植物的根和花还含有很多其他化合物,"Ozcan说。"因此,这对人类而言可能是有危险的。"