Green tea is one of those things that’s really healthy for you, but its health benefits have been greatly exaggerated; one of the things which has been consistently reported about green tea is that it helps you lose weight, but scientists didn’t know how (or if) this happens. Now, a team from Poland believe they’ve zeroed in on this mystery: it’s all about the starch¹.

绿茶是一种对健康有好处的东西，但是它对健康的益处被夸大了；绿茶一直被报道的好处之一就是它有助于减肥，但科学家并不知道它如何（或是否）有助于减肥。现在，来自波兰的一个团队认为他们已经解开了这个谜团：关键就在于淀粉。

Jaroslaw Walkowiak of Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland, found that a single dose of green tea extract made people digest less starch and eliminate more of it. He gave people the equivalent of drinking a few cups of green tea every day after they had breakfast.

波兰波兹南医科大学的雅罗斯瓦夫•瓦尔科维亚克发现单剂量的绿茶提取物可以使人减少淀粉消化量，增多淀粉排出量。每天早饭后，他给人们等同于几杯绿茶含量的提取物。

“Green tea is known worldwide for its beneficial effects on human health,” the researchers write in the journal Scientific Reports. “However, objective data evaluating this influence in humans is scarce.”

研究人员在《科技报告》上写道：“绿茶因对健康有好处而闻名世界，然而，仍缺乏评估它对人体影响的客观数据。”

Indeed, green tea is given credit for many health benefits – it’s supposed to help against cancer, but despite suggestive evidence, there is no conclusive² evidence that green tea helps to prevent or treat cancer. It’s supposed to level glycemic control but again, evidence is inconclusive, and it’s supposed to help with losing weight. It’s safe to say that green tea is quite controversial, but hopefully, studies like this one will shed some light on what the substance actually does.

的确，绿茶被赋予很多健康功效——它应该有助于抗癌，但尽管有一些启发性证据，仍没有确凿证据表明绿茶有助于预防或治疗癌症；它应该能平衡血糖水平，但同样证据不够确凿；它应该有助于减肥。绿茶的确颇具争议，但希望像这样的研究能阐明这种物质究竟有什么功效。

“In most subjects (78.6%), the decreased starch digestion³ and absorption due to GTE was rapid and the aforesaid effect persisted until the last measure.”

“绿茶提取物使大多数测试者（78.6%）体内淀粉消化和吸收量迅速下降，直到最后一次测试上述作用仍在持续。”

They continue making a case for using the substance instead of other weight-loss substances.

他们继续做了一个案例，使用这种物质代替其他减肥药物。

“Our data suggest that the use of GTE is a viable⁴ alternative to pharmaceutical⁵ inhibitors of glucoside hydrolase enzymes⁶. This plant extract is widely available, inexpensive, and well tolerated, so it has potential utility for weight control and the treatment of diabetes⁷. Our study supports the concept that pure GTE inhibits⁸ starch digestion and absorption. However, the clinical significance of each green tea catechin and the exact mechanism⁹ responsible for this action in humans remain to be determined¹⁰.”

“我们的数据表明绿茶提取物的使用可以替代葡萄糖水解酶的药物抑制剂。这种植物提取物容易提取，便宜，而且耐受性好，所以在控制体重和治疗糖尿病方面有潜在功效。我们的研究支持这一观点——纯绿茶提取物抑制淀粉消化吸收。然而，每种绿茶茶素的临床意义和人体内发生这种变化的确切原理仍有待于进一步确定。“

The debate around green tea won’t end anytime soon, but regarding weight loss, the evidence seems to be piling up: a few cups of green tea per day might actually help you lose weight.

关于绿茶的争论不会很快就随时停止，但至于减肥，证据似乎确凿了：每天喝几杯绿茶真的有助于减肥。