1、 Eating Potatoes Gives Your Immune System aBoost Eating potatoes is not only good for bowel health, but also for the wholeimmune system, especially when they come in the form of a potato salad or eatencold. In a study on an animal model, researchers in Spain found that pigs fed largequantities of raw potato starch (RPS) 1 not only had a healthier bowel, butalso decreased levels of white blood cells, such as leucocytes and lymphocytesin their blood. White blood cells are produced as a result of inflammation ordisease, generally when the body is challenged.The generaldown-regulation of leucocytes observed by the Spanish researchers suggests anoverall beneficial effect, a generally more healthy body. 2 The reduction inleucocyte levels was about 15 percent. Lower lymphocyte levels are alsoindicative of reduced levels of inflammation, but the observed reduction inboth lymphocyte density and lymphocyte apoptosis is surprising.In what was thelongest study of its kind, pigs were fed RPS over 14 weeks to find out theeffect of starch on bowel health. “The use of raw potato starch in thisexperiment is designed to simulate the effects of a diet high in resistantstarch,” said study leader Jose Francisco Perez at the Universitat Autonoma deBarcelona3, Spain.Humans do not eatraw potatoes, but they do eat a lot of foods that contain resistant starch,such as cold boiled potatoes, legumes, grains, green bananas, pasta andcereals. About 10 percent of the starch eaten by human is resistantstarch—starch that is not digested in the small intestine and so is shuntedinto the large intestine where it ferments. Starch consumption is thought toreduce the risk of large bowel cancer and may also have an effect on irritablebowel syndrome (IBS)4Immunology expertLena Ohman’s team previously found that the overall lymphocyte levels do notvary for IBS patients, but that lymphocytes are transferred from the peripheralblood to the gut, which support the hypothesis of IBS being at least partiallyan inflammatory disorder. She says the decrease in lymphocytes observed by theSpanish is therefore interesting, and a diet of resistant starch may be worthtrying in IBS patients. Ohman is currently at the Department of InternalMedicine, Goteborg University, Sweden5. Thestudy is published in the journal Chemistry and Industry, the magazine of theSCI6.词汇：boost/bu:st/vt.提高，举起．bowel/5bauEl/n.(常用复数)肠salad/5sAlEd/n.色拉Spain/spein/n．西班牙starch/stB:tF/n.淀粉leucocyte/5lju:kE7sait/n.白细胞lymphocyte/5limfEsait/n.淋巴细胞inflammation/7inflE5meiFEn/n.炎，炎症；发炎部位down-regulation n.下调，向下调节Spanish/5spAniF/adj．西班牙的indicative/in5dikEtiv/adj．指示性的；象征性的；预示性的density/5densiti/n．密度apoptosm//n.细胞凋亡(细胞的自然死亡)simulate/5simjuleit/vt．模仿，模拟resistant/ri5zistEnt/adj.有抵抗力的；耐久的Barcelona/7bB:si5lEunE/n．巴塞罗那(西班牙港市)legume/5le^ju:m/n.豆，(豆)荚pasta/5pB:stE/n．意大利面食cereal/5siEriEl/n.(常用复数)(作为主粮的)谷物类digest/di5dVest;dai5dVest/v.消化intestine/in5testin/n.(常用复数)肠shunt/FQnt/v．(使)分流ferment/5fE:mEnt/v．(使)发酵immunology/7imju5nClEdVi/n．免疫学peripheral/pE5rifErEl/adj．周围的；表面的gut/^Qt/n．肠hypothesis/hai5pCWisis/n．(学说的)假设，假定inflammatory/in5flAmEtEri/adj．发炎的，炎性的注释：1．raw potatostarch(RPS)：未经加下的土豆淀粉2．The generaldown-regulation of leucocytes observed by the Spanish researchers suggests anoverall beneficial effect，agenerally more healthy body．西班牙研究者们所观察到的全身性调白血球水平的作用意味着未经加千的土豆淀粉是具有全面的有益的作用的，也就是总的来说身体是更加健康。3．Universitat Autonomadc Barcelona是西班牙一个少数民族语——加泰隆语，意为“巴塞罗那自治大学”。这是该大学的原名。4．irritable bowelsyndrome(IBS)：肠易激综合征5．Department ofInternal Medicine，Goteborg University，Sweden：瑞典哥德堡大学内科医学系6．SCI(Science CitationIndex)：科学引文索引。美国科学信息研究所1961年创办出版的引文数据库。练习：
1What form ofpotato is the most nutrient to the human body?
2 What does thereduction in leucocyte levels in the body mean?
3For what apurpose did the researchers use raw potato starch in their experiment?
4All of thefollowing foods are rich in resistant starch EXCEPT
5What a kindof starch is resistant starch after all?
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