来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2021年5月9日
There is insufficient evidence to justify recommending herbal and dietary supplements to help people to lose weight. That is the emphatic view of researchers who will present studies on the effectiveness of supplements at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) to be held online.
没有足够的证据证明推荐草药和膳食补充剂来帮助人们减肥是合理的。这是研究人员强调的观点，他们将在网上举行的欧洲肥胖大会(ECO)上展示关于补充剂有效性的研究。
“Even though most supplements appear safe for short-term consumption, they are not going to provide weight loss that is clinically meaningful,” said lead author Erica Bessell of the University of Sydney in Australia.
该研究的主要作者、澳大利亚悉尼大学的艾丽卡·贝塞尔说:“尽管大多数补充剂短期食用似乎是安全的，但它们不会产生具有临床意义的减肥效果。”
Herbal supplements contain whole plants or combinations of plants, while dietary supplements contain naturally occurring single compounds. They can be purchased as pills, powders and liquids and have become increasingly popular as aids to losing weight.
草药补充剂包含整株植物或不同植物的组合，而膳食补充剂含有天然存在的单一化合物。它们可以以药丸、粉末和液体的形式购买，作为减肥的辅助药物已经越来越受欢迎。
One recent estimate has suggested that 15% of Americans have tried a weight-loss supplement in an industry worth $40bn worldwide. Yet there have been few recent attempts to review the scientific literature on all available herbal and dietary supplements.
最近的一项估计显示，15%的美国人尝试过全球产值400亿美元的减肥补充剂。然而，最近很少有人试图回顾所有可用草药和膳食补充剂的科学文献。
Herbal supplements include green tea, white kidney beans, African mango, and others. To study the effectiveness of these supplements, the Australian researchers did a systematic review of all previous randomised trials in which the weight-loss impact of herbal supplements were compared with the impact of placebos. Data was analysed for 54 studies involving 4,331 healthy, overweight or obese adults – and revealed that only one single agent, white kidney beans, resulted in a statistically greater weight loss than a placebo.
草药补充剂包括绿茶、白芸豆、非洲芒果等。为了研究这些补充剂的有效性，澳大利亚的研究人员对之前所有的随机试验进行了系统回顾，将草药补充剂的减肥效果与安慰剂的效果进行了比较。对涉及4331名健康、超重或肥胖成年人的54项研究的数据进行了分析，结果显示，只有一种药物——白芸豆，在统计上比安慰剂更有效地减轻了体重。
In a separate study, the group analysed previous trials that compared the effect of placebos with dietary supplements that included chitosan , glucomannan, conjugated linoleic acid, and others.
在另一项研究中，研究小组分析了先前的试验，比较了安慰剂与膳食补充剂的效果，其中包括壳聚糖、葡甘聚糖、共轭亚油酸等。
Analysis found that chitosan, glucomannan, and conjugated linoleic acid resulted in weight loss but not at levels that were clinically significant. In addition, some other dietary supplements – including blood orange juice extract – showed promising results but had only been investigated in one trial. Much more evidence was needed before they could be recommended as aids for weight loss, the researchers concluded.
分析发现，壳聚糖、葡甘聚糖和共轭亚油酸导致体重减轻，但没有达到临床显著水平。此外，其他一些膳食补充剂——包括血橙汁提取物——显示出了有希望的结果，但仅在一次试验中进行了研究。研究人员总结说，在推荐它们作为减肥的辅助药物之前，还需要更多的证据。
“Herbal and dietary supplements might seem like a quick-fix solution to weight problems but people need to be aware of how little we actually know about them,” said Bessell. “Very few high-quality studies have been done on some supplements, with little data on long-term effectiveness. What’s more, many trials are small and poorly designed, and some don’t report on the composition of the supplements being investigated. The tremendous growth in the industry and popularity of these products underscores the urgency for conducting larger, more rigorous studies to have reasonable assurance of their safety and effectiveness for weight loss.”
贝塞尔说：“草药和膳食补充剂似乎是解决体重问题的权宜之计，但人们需要意识到，我们实际上对它们知之甚少。很少有针对某些补充剂的高质量研究，关于长期有效性的数据也很少。更重要的是，许多试验规模都很小，设计拙劣，有些没有报告正在研究的补充剂的成分。该行业的巨大增长和这些产品的普及突出了进行更大规模、更严格的研究的紧迫性，以合理保证它们在减肥中的安全性和有效性。”