童年时期的饮食习惯会对你的一生产生持久的影响

Eating too much fat and sugar as a child can alter your microbiome for life, even if you follow a healthy diet when you're older, according to new research.

一项新的研究表明，即使你长大后遵循健康的饮食习惯，在儿童时期摄入过多的脂肪和糖也会影响你一生的微生物群。

The study from the University of California, Riverside is one of the first to show a significant decrease in the total number and diversity of gut bacteria in mature mice fed an unhealthy diet when they were juveniles.

加州大学河滨分校的这项研究是第一个显示幼年时以不健康饮食喂养的成年老鼠肠道细菌总数和多样性显著减少的研究。

"We studied mice, but the effect we observed is equivalent to kids having a Western diet, high in fat and sugar and their gut microbiome still being affected up to six years after puberty," explained UCR evolutionary physiologist Theodore Garland. "You are not only what you eat, but what you ate as a child!"

“我们对老鼠进行了研究，但我们观察到的影响相当于儿童吃西方饮食，高脂肪和高糖，他们的肠道微生物群在青春期6年后仍然受到影响，”加州大学河滨分校进化生理学家西奥多·加兰解释说。“你不只是吃了什么就成为了一个人，而是你小时候吃了什么，你就成为了什么样一个人！”

Garland's team looked for impacts on the microbiome, which refers to all the bacteria as well as fungi, parasites, and viruses that live on and inside a human or animal, after splitting the mice into four groups - one group was fed the standard 'healthy' diet, another was fed the less healthy 'Western' diet, while one group had access to a running wheel for exercise, and the other didn't.

加兰的团队在将小鼠分成四组后，寻找对微生物组的影响，微生物组指的是生活在人或动物身上和体内的所有细菌以及真菌、寄生虫和病毒--一组喂食标准的“健康”饮食，另一组喂食不太健康的“西方”饮食，而一组可以使用跑轮进行锻炼，另一组则没有。

After three weeks, all of the mice were returned to a standard diet and no exercise, and at the 14-week mark, the team examined the diversity and abundance of bacteria in their microbiome.

三周后，所有的老鼠都恢复了正常饮食，不运动。14周后，研究小组检查了它们微生物组中的细菌多样性和丰度。

They found that eating a Western diet early in life had more long-lasting effects on the microbiome than early-life exercise.

他们发现，在生命早期吃西方饮食比早期锻炼对微生物组有更持久的影响。

The researchers plan to repeat the experiment and take samples at extra points to help get a better understanding of when the microbiome changes first appear and whether they continue much further in life.

研究人员计划重复这个实验，并在额外的点上取样，以帮助更好地了解微生物群的变化何时首次出现，以及它们是否会在生命中进一步延续。

However, regardless of when the effects first appear, the researchers believe it's significant that they were observed so long after changing the diet, and then changing it back.

然而，不管这些影响是何时首次出现的，研究人员认为，在改变饮食，然后再改变饮食这么长时间后，观察到这些影响是有意义的。