◎國際中心

Almost nine in 10 people are not aware of the risks of carrying extra fat around their waistline. A survey of 12,000 Europeans found most had no idea that a thick waist was a sign of a build-up of a dangerous type of fat around the internal organs.

將近10分之9的人不知道腰部有多餘脂肪的風險。針對1萬2000名歐洲人的調查發現，多數人不知道，粗腰是內臟周圍有危險脂肪堆積的跡象。

The report from GlaxoSmithKline, who make weight loss drug Alli, said this "visceral fat" is strongly linked with type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Most people would lose weight once they found out the risk, the survey found.

製造減肥藥Alli的葛蘭素史克藥廠在報告中說，這種「內臟脂肪」與第2型糖尿病以及心臟病有著強烈關聯。調查發現，知道這種風險之後，多數人會減重。

Report author Dr Terry Maguire, honorary senior lecturer at Queen’s University in Belfast, said people did not know that visceral fat, which you cannot see or feel and which sits around the organs in the abdomen, is there or that it poses a problem.

報告作者、貝爾發斯特皇后大學的榮譽資深講師麥奎爾說，人們不知道有內臟脂肪，或是它會帶來問題。內臟脂肪是你看不到也感覺不到、圍繞在腹部器官周邊的脂肪。

It is thought that the danger of visceral fat is related to the release of proteins and hormones that can cause inflammation, which in turn can damage arteries and enter the liver, and affect how the body breaks down sugars and fats.

一般認為，內臟脂肪的危險，與可能造成發炎的蛋白質及荷爾蒙釋放有關，發炎之後會傷害動脈、進入肝臟，影響身體分解糖與脂肪。

Only a quarter of those questioned in the Europe-wide study thought being overweight was a risk to long-term health at all. "Most overweight people still see themselves as having a body image issue not a health problem," he said.

在這份歐洲研究中，只有4分之1的人認為過重會造成長期健康風險。他說：「多數過重的人，依然認為自己是體型有問題，而不是健康有問題。」

新聞辭典

visceral：形容詞，內臟的，名詞為viscus。

inflammation：名詞，發炎。例句：Aspirin reduces pain and inflammation.（阿斯匹靈減輕痛苦與發炎。）

break down：片語，分解。例句：During digestion, the protein foods we eat are broken down into amino acids.（消化的時候，我們吃的蛋白質食物會分解成胺基酸。）