Rats that eat high levels of a natural sugar known as fructose seem to age faster than other rats--and the same could be true for people who eat too much sweet junk food, Israeli researchers said Monday.

    以色列的研究人员星期一说，大量摄取一种叫做果糖的天然糖的老鼠，似乎比其他老鼠衰老得更快，而甜味垃圾食品吃得太多的人同样更容易衰老。

    Fructose, found naturally in honey and fruit, is used widely in foods ranging from soft drinks to yogurt. But while its sweet taste is popular, the sugar could cause wrinkles and heal the problems, the researchers said.

    存在于蜂蜜和水果中的果糖，被广泛用于饮料和酸奶等各种食品中。研究人员说，尽管果糖的甜味很受欢迎，但这种糖却能使皮肤起皱纹并影响身体健康。

    Dr. Moshe Werman and Boaz Levi of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology fed large amounts of fructose to laboratory rats. Writing in the Journal of Nutrition, they said the fructose-fed rats showed changes in the collagen of their skin and bones.

    以色列科学技术研究所的摩西·沃曼和波阿兹·利位博士喂给实验鼠大量的果糖。他们在《营养学杂志》上发表文章说，那些吃了果糖的老鼠的皮肤和骨质中的胶原蛋白发生了变化。

    Collagen, a fibrous protein found in connective tissue, bone and cartilage, basically holds the body together. The loss of collagen is what causes sagging and deep wrinkles in older people.

    胶原蛋白是存在于结缔组织、骨质和软骨中的纤维蛋白质，它的基本作用是将人体各组织结合在一起。胶原蛋白的丧失是导致老年人皮肤松弛和深度皱纹的原因。

    The process affected, Werman's team said, is known as "cross linking". "Too much cross-linking reduces elasticity and makes the skin stiff and rigid, and these are the conditions that encourage wrinkled skin," Werman said in a statement.

    沃曼研究小组把胶原蛋白的丧失引起的生理变化称作“交叉关联”。沃曼在一次报告中说：“太多的‘交叉关联’就会降低皮肤弹性，使之发生硬化，这是导致皮肤起皱纹的原因。”

    He said the same could be true of people, although this has not been shown.

    他说，尽管还没有证据证明，但人也可能如此。

    "Americans are eating more and more processed foods such as carbonated drinks, baked goods, canned fruits, jams and dairy products that contain fructose," Werman said.

    他说：“美国人摄取的加工食品越来越多，比如碳酸饮料、烘焙食品、罐装水果、果酱和乳制品等，而这些食品都含有果糖。”

    Other studies have shown that high fructose intake can affect how the body handles glucose and increases insulin resistance--which can both be important measures of the tendency toward diabetes.

    其他的一些研究已经表明，大量摄取果糖会影响人体对葡萄糖的代谢，并会加重人体对胰岛素的抵抗力，而这两者是判断是否可能罹患糖尿病的重要指标。

    The rats Werman worked with were fed much more than the average adult person might eat in a day, which is standard in such experiments. The rats were fed of fru12.5 grams ctose per kg (2.2 pounds) of weight every day for a year. To compare, a person weighing 154 pounds (70kg) who drinks a quart (liter) of cola consumes about 60 grams of fructose, or 0.8 grams per kg of body weight.

    沃曼喂养的老鼠摄取的果糖比普通成人每天可能摄取的果糖多得多，这在此类实验中是符合标准的。在一年的时间里，这些老鼠遵循了每天每千克（2.2磅）体重摄取12.5克果糖的标准。与此相比，一个体重154磅（70千克）的人，喝一夸脱（升）的可乐，大约能摄取60克的果糖，或者说每千克体重能摄取0.8克的果糖。