谷蛋白对健康的人没有坏处

Unless you have been medically diagnosed with coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity, a rigorous new study shows that eating foods containing gluten will cause you no harm, and avoiding these proteins in your diet isn't necessary.

除非你被医学诊断患有腹腔疾病或谷蛋白敏感症，否则一项严格的新研究表明，吃含有谷蛋白的食物不会对你造成伤害，在饮食中避免摄入这些蛋白质是没有必要的。

In the first double-blind randomised controlled trial, which is one of the most reliable tests we have today, healthy volunteers who ate gluten-containing flour did not report gastrointestinal symptoms or fatigue.

在第一个双盲随机对照试验中(这是我们今天最可靠的试验之一)，食用含谷蛋白面粉的健康志愿者没有报告胃肠道症状或疲劳。

It's the first time a test like this has relied on healthy volunteers with no history of gut issues (such as irritable bowel syndrome), and it helps to clear up some of the mixed results that have been surfacing in recent years.

这是第一次对没有肠道病史(如肠易激综合征)的健康志愿者进行这样的测试，它有助于澄清近年来出现的一些混杂结果。

Today in the United States, over three million people follow a gluten-free diet, even though some 82 percent have not been diagnosed with health issues that would require this lifestyle change. People cite many reasons for going gluten-free, but "wellbeing" is usually a reigning factor.

今天，在美国，超过300万人遵循无谷蛋白饮食，尽管约82%的人没有被诊断出需要改变生活方式的健康问题。人们列举了许多不含谷蛋白的原因，但“健康”通常是一个主导因素。

According to American market research, 65 percent of the public thinks gluten-free diets are just generally healthier. The new research, along with plenty ofother studies, challenges this widespread assumption.

根据美国市场调查，65%的公众认为无谷蛋白饮食通常更健康。这项新的研究，以及许多其他的研究，挑战了这一普遍的假设。

"The benefits of a [gluten free diet] are sold also on the basis of a decreased disease burden, improved cognitive function, weight loss, and 'looking good'," write gastroenterologists Emma Halmos and Peter Gibson from Monash University in an editorial accompanying the study.

莫纳什大学的肠胃病学家Emma Halmos和Peter Gibson在该研究的一篇社论中写道：“无谷蛋白饮食的好处也是基于疾病负担的减轻、认知功能的改善、体重的减轻和‘看起来不错’的基础上出售的。”

"Data to support such notions are missing. In fact, large prospective cohort studies, including the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, have shown no risk of gluten contributing to cardiovascular disease or the metabolic syndrome."

“缺少支持这些概念的数据。事实上，包括国家健康和营养检查调查在内的大型前瞻性队列研究显示，谷蛋白不会导致心血管疾病或代谢综合征。”

The new study is small and short, but its method is tightly controlled and carefully regulated for bias. For over two weeks, 28 volunteers, randomly split into two groups, were asked to follow a gluten-free diet, while also consuming a dose of flour twice a day that equalled either 14 grams of gluten or was entirely gluten free. Not even the researchers were aware of who was receiving which type of flour.

这项新研究规模小、篇幅短，但其方法受到严格控制，并受到严格的偏差控制。在超过两周的时间里，28名志愿者被随机分成两组，他们被要求遵循无谷蛋白饮食，同时每天吃两次面粉，每次14克或完全不含谷蛋白。甚至连研究人员都不知道是谁在接受哪种面粉。

To measure any changes in their abdominal pain, reflux, indigestion, diarrhoea, and constipation, each participant also completed a series of symptom-rating scales before and after the two week test. Their feelings of fatigue were gauged using a visual analogue scale.

为了测量他们的腹痛、反流、消化不良、腹泻和便秘的任何变化，每个参与者在两周测试之前和之后还完成了一系列症状评分量表。他们的疲劳感用视觉模拟量表测量。

In the end, independent analyses between the randomised groups showed no significant differences among healthy patients in any symptoms, including abdominal pain. Overall, only one healthy individual who ate gluten reported diarrhoea, and the authors argue this is likely anomalous.

最后，随机分组之间的独立分析显示，健康患者在任何症状(包括腹痛)方面均无显著差异。总的来说，只有一个健康的人吃谷蛋白报告腹泻，作者认为这可能是反常的。

This suggests that avoiding gluten does not provide any benefits to the average healthy person.

这表明，避免谷蛋白对普通健康人没有任何好处。

In stark contrast, people with diagnosable problems linked to gluten can have serious issues. A double-blind randomised controlled study on those with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, for example, found over 90 percent of patients had a clinical relapse during their gluten challenge.

与此形成鲜明对比的是，有可能与谷蛋白有关的可诊断问题的人可能会有严重的问题。例如，一项双盲随机对照研究发现，90%以上的患者在接受谷蛋白挑战时出现临床复发。

In those with coeliac disease, gluten can actually destroy the lining of the small intestine, and if the damage becomes too much it can lead to osteoporosis, infertility, nerve damage, and seizures.

对于那些患有腹腔疾病的人，谷蛋白实际上会破坏小肠的内壁，如果损伤太大，就会导致骨质疏松、不孕、神经损伤和癫痫发作。

Such extreme reactions to gluten are quite rare however, occurring in less than one percent of the total US population. A strict, life-long gluten-free diet is therefore required for this small subset of individuals, but the new research suggests that doesn't really apply to anyone else.

然而，这种对谷蛋白的极端反应非常罕见，发生在美国总人口的不到百分之一。因此，这一小部分人需要严格的终身无谷蛋白饮食，但新的研究表明，这并不适用于其他人。

"The big question is whether these findings will dampen enthusiasm for the use of a gluten-free diet among the general community," Halmos and Gibsen write, adding that scientifically valid findings have had little influence on beliefs about gluten so far.

霍尔莫斯和吉布森写道：“最大的问题是，这些发现是否会抑制人们对无谷蛋白饮食的热情。”他补充说，科学上有效的发现迄今为止对谷蛋白的信仰几乎没有影响。

There's even some evidence that gluten-free diets can do more harm than good. Previous surveys have shown those with coeliac disease do not consume enough calcium, iron, fibre, folate and thiamine. Another study found people with a lower gluten intake had a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

甚至有证据表明，无谷蛋白饮食对健康有害。以前的调查显示那些患有腹腔疾病的人没有摄入足够的钙、铁、纤维、叶酸和硫胺。另一项研究发现，谷蛋白摄入量较低的人患2型糖尿病的风险较高。

Given these results, the authors of the new study suggest "there is possibly clinical justification in actively discouraging people from starting it if they have no diagnosable sensitivity."

鉴于这些结果，这项新研究的作者建议“如果你没有诊断出谷蛋白过敏，那么就积极的实用它。”

The research was published in Gastroenterology.

这项研究发表在《胃肠病学》杂志上。