人体新陈代谢的“世界地图”：发现血压线索

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World map of metabolism finds blood pressure clues

Sun Apr 20, 2008 2:14pm EDT
2008年4月20日周日 美国东部时间下午2:14

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
作者：Maggie Fox，《Health and Science》编辑

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers creating a map of human metabolism around the world have found compounds in urine that point to some surprising differences affecting blood pressure, based not on genes but on what people eat and their gut bacteria.
华盛顿（路透社）——研究者绘制了人体新陈代谢的“世界地图”，从图中发现，尿中的化合物的差异显示了不同物质对血压的影响，它的基础在于人们的饮食和肠道细菌而不是基因。

They hope their findings, published in the journal Nature on Sunday, can help lead to the development of new drugs to fight high blood pressure or perhaps even non-drug therapy.
他们希望这个周日发表在《journal Nature》杂志上的发现能够帮助研发抗高血压的新药，甚至非药物的治疗。

They analyzed urine samples from 4,630 people in the United States, Britain, Japan and China to find some surprising new links to blood pressure differences.
他们分析了来自美国、英国、日本和中国的4,630人的尿液样本，发现了一些与血压的奇特联系。

\"On one end of the metabolic world we have got people in southern China and at the other end we have got people from Corpus Christi, Texas,\" said Jeremy Nicholson of Imperial College London, who led the study.
“这个‘代谢地图’的一端在中国南方，另一端在美国德克萨斯州的Corpus Christi。”研究负责人、伦敦帝国理工学院Jeremy Nicholson说。

\"And you can geographically map people according to their metabolic patterns,\" he added.
“你也可以根据他们代谢类型绘制‘地图’，”他补充说。

\"Britain is the '51st state' as we are really in the middle of America. Our lifestyle and our diets and our ethnic mixes are quite similar in many ways to America.\"
“英国就像位于美国中部的“第51个州”。我们的生活方式、饮食习惯、种族混居都和美国十分相似。”

The patterns do not seem to follow genetics, Nicholson said. \"It has to do with their diet and lifestyle and also gut microorganisms,\" Nicholson said.
这些方式看起来与遗传无关，Nicholson说。“这与他们的饮食、生活方式以及肠道微生物有关。”

Bacteria in the intestines and colon help digest and break down food and many recent studies have suggested that humans and their gut bacteria have a truly symbiotic relationship.
小肠和大肠中的细菌帮助消化和降解食物，最近的许多研究表明，人类和他们体内的肠道细菌是共生的关系。

Some of the compounds they release have drug-like effects, Nichols said.
一些降解产物有一定的药理效应，Nichols说。

He looked at these breakdown products, called metabolites, in human urine to see if he could find any links with heart disease.
他观察人的尿中存在的这些降解产物，期望找到与心脏疾病的联系。

Saying the study only scratches the surface, Nicholson said his team already identified four such compounds that can be linked with blood pressure differences.
当有人提到他们的研究只是触及浅表时，Nicholson反驳说他的研究小组已经确定了四种这样的与血压存在联系的化合物。

An estimated 1 billion people globally have high blood pressure, defined as a reading of 140/90 or higher. It is a major cause of stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.
据估计，全球大约有10亿人患有高血压，即血压达到或超过140/90，高血压是引起中风、心力衰竭和肾功能衰竭的主要原因。

The best-known cause is high salt intake, but a diet rich in vegetables and certain minerals and steady exercise can lower blood pressure.
最为人们所知的原因是高钠盐的摄入，富含蔬菜和一定量矿物质的饮食以及坚持运动能够降低血压。

Nicholson's team was looking for more evidence linking salt with high blood pressure.
Nicholson的研究小组正致力于寻找食盐和高血压联系的更有力的证据。

One link they found was a compound called formic acid or formate.
他们已经发现一种被称为甲酸的物质可能在其中起作用。

\"Not much is known about what the role is of formic acid in the body. It's the thing that makes ant stings hurt and bee stings as well,\" Nicholson said.
“甲酸在体内的作用至今了解得还不多。它也是蚂蚁和蜜蜂蜇人时释放的物质。”Nicholson说。

It may be involved in processing chloride from salt in the kidney, Nicholson said.
他可能和肾脏中食盐转换为氯化物有关，Nicholson说。

\"It means maybe if you modulate formate metabolism you can modulate blood pressure,\" he said.
“这意味着如果你能调节甲酸代谢，你也就能调节你的血压，”他说

They also found that people with higher levels of an amino acid called alanine in their urine had higher blood pressure. The same team had earlier shown that people who eat more meat and other animal products had higher alanine levels.
他们还发现尿中丙氨酸含量高的人血压也会相对高。这个研究小组在先前报告食入较多的肉类和动物食品的人丙氨酸含量会较高。