Home cooking may not be as healthy as you think.

自己动手做饭未必像你想的那么健康。

The longer people spend preparing meals, the worse their health becomes, a study found.

一项研究表明：烹调的时间越长，身体就越不健康。

The result contradicts the popular public health message that it is better to cook from scratch than rely on ready meals.

该研究结果推翻了一直以来存在大众心中的健康认知，即自己动手做饭要比吃现成的食物更健康。

And it suggests that food isn’t healthy just because it is cooked at home.

而且研究表明食物并不会因手工加工而更健康。

Possible reasons include home chefs being extra generous with unhealthy ingredients such as butter and salt and feeling they have to eat more because of the time and effort that went into preparation.

一项合理的原因为在家烹饪时掌厨的人会过多使用不健康的配料，比如说黄油和食盐。而为了不辜负烹调食物的过程中花费的心血，他们就会吃的更多。

Frequenting tasting of food as it is being prepared can lead to pounds creeping on over time.

而长此以往，自然而然体重也就跟着增加了。

It is also possible, say the researchers, that convenience foods have become healthier.

而据研究者称，方便食品也可能更健康。

The researchers, from Rush University in Chicago, analyzed¹ 14 years of data provided by more than 2,755 women in their 40s, 50s and 60s.

芝加哥拉什大学的研究者们对2755名女性在她们40,50和60岁三个阶段的数据进行了分析。

This included information on how long they spent cooking and the results of annual health checks for something called metabolic² syndrome³.

这些数据包括：她们烹调食物的时长以及她们每年体检中代谢综合症的检查结果。

This is the medical term for when someone has three out of five risk factor that raise the odds⁴ of heart disease and strokes.

代谢综合症指的是一个人五分之三的风险因素超标，这意味着罹患心脏病和中风的几率上升。

Warning signs include high blood pressure, high cholesterol⁵ and obesity⁶.

而这些疾病的三个预警信号就是高血压，高胆固醇和肥胖。

The women who spent the longest cooking and clearing up meals were more likely to develop metabolic syndrome, the journal Preventive Medicine reports.

根据期刊《预防医学》的报告显示，女性花费在烹制食物和洗碗上的时间越长，就更易患上代谢综合征。

Similarly, if a woman started to spend more time cooking, her odds of metabolic syndrome rose more quickly than average.

这也就是说，一旦一个女人做饭的时间变长，那么她患上代谢综合症的几率将比一般人增长的更快。

However, females who did less cooking as time went on cut their odds of health problems.

不过，随着女性做饭时间的减短，这些患病几率也会相应地随之下降。

Researcher Dr Brad Appelhans said that we may have to rethink public health policies that make home cooking a ‘cornerstone’ attempts to improve health.

研究员布拉德·阿佩尔汉克斯博士说，我们必须反思公众对健康常识的认知了，而这次对“在家做饭更健康”的辟谣就是一个良好的开端。

He said:‘In the past three or four decades, the proportion of our food that we prepare at home has decreased, and the prevalence of obesity has increased. Noting this, public health experts frequently promote home cooking as a way to curb⁷ the obesity epidemic⁸ and reduce risk factors for heart disease and diabetes⁹. However, our research with over 2,700 women that greater time spent preparing food each week is actually linked to increasing odds of having risk factors for heart disease and diabetes over time.

他说：“在过去三四十年里，我们越来越少在家做饭吃，但肥胖却变得越来越普遍。养生专家们一直频繁宣传鼓励在家做饭，以期能够降低肥胖症、心脏病和糖尿病的发病率。然而，通过对两千七百多女性的调查发现，每周做饭的时间增多才是这些疾病发病率升高的罪魁祸首。

‘While the reasons underlying¹⁰ this association are still unclear, we think these findings indicate the need to revise our public health messaging, including the need to emphasize healthy cooking methods and to consider the potential benefits of healthy convenience meals.’

“不过，这些猜想尚未明朗，但是这些发现让我们认识到修正公众的健康观念，包括重视健康的饮食方法以及意识到健康便利的餐饮的有益之处是当务之急。”

He added that it is important to cook healthily, not just frequently.

他同时强调，健康烹调比经常下厨更为重要。