金属治病：安慰剂还是万灵丹？

　　From ancient Egypt to the Internet age, the medicinal properties of metals have been touted for millennia.
　　从古埃及到互联网时代，金属的药性被吹了几千年。

　　Wearing copper is said to reduce arthritis pain and inflammation. Magnets supposedly increase circulation, relieving stiffness and pain. Gold and silver theoretically enhance cognitive function and the body's ability to repair itself. Titanium, though unknown in ancient times, is said to help stabilize the body's flow of energy-so much so that many Major League Baseball players have been draping themselves with titanium-coated necklaces in official team colors.
　　据说，戴上铜饰就能降低关节痛和关节炎。磁材说是可以加快循环，缓解僵硬和疼痛。金银在理论上会增强认知功能与身体的自我修复能力。古时候还不为人知的钛，据说可以稳定身体的能量流──以至于美国职业棒球大联赛(Major League Baseball)中很多选手一直都佩戴用赛队官方色彩镀钛的项圈。

　　'It helps us recover and we're proud to be associated with it,' said Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain, a paid endorser of Phiten's titanium-coated sportswear, after winning the American League pennant Sunday night.
　　洋基队投手乔巴•张伯伦(Joba Chamberlain) 10月24日晚赢得美国大联赛过后说，它帮我们恢复活力，我们以与它为同盟而自豪。乔巴是法藤镀钛运动产品的品牌代言人。

　　But such claims have always been one part medicine to one million parts marketing. A British study of copper and magnetic bracelets in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine this month confirms what skeptics have long believed: Any perceived benefit is psychological at best and no better than a placebo.
　　但这样一些说法，一直都是王婆卖瓜、自卖自夸。本月《医学补充疗法》杂志(Complementary Therapies in Medicine)发表了一项在英国进行、针对铜质和磁材手镯进行的研究。研究证实了怀疑派人士很长时间以来的想法：人们所认为的药效，如果真的有的话，最多也只是心理上的，比安慰剂好不到哪里去。

　　Researchers from the University of York and Hull University in Yorkshire had 45 osteoarthritis sufferers over age 50 wear four types of bracelets (copper, a weak magnet, a stronger magnet and a demagnetized strip) for four weeks each. Each subject eventually wore all four bracelets, so they served as their own controls, with the order determined randomly. The upshot: The subjects experienced no meaningful difference in pain relief, physical function, mobility or need for medication while wearing any of the bracelets.
　　来自英国约克郡(Yorkshire)约克大学(University of York)与赫尔大学(Hull University)的研究人员，让45位年龄在50岁以上的骨关节炎患者佩戴了四种类型的手镯（分别用铜、弱磁材料、磁力较强材料和去磁材料制成），每一种佩戴四个星期。最后，每一位研究对象都佩戴了全部四只手镯，具体怎么戴由自己控制，佩戴顺序随机决定。研究结果是：佩戴任何一种手镯时，研究对象都没有体验到镇痛、身体功能、灵活度或用药需求方面的实质性差别。

　　'I was hoping these things would work,' says lead researcher Stewart Richmond, noting that such inexpensive remedies could cut health-care costs. 'But the results suggest there is nothing but a placebo effect.'
　　牵头研究员里士满(Stewart Richmond)表示，我以为这些东西会管用，但研究结果说明，除了一种安慰剂效应，什么都没有。

　　Certified athletic trainers say the placebo effect can be very powerful, which is why they seldom dissuade pro athletes who want to try the latest fad.
　　注册运动培训师们认为，安慰剂效应可能是非常强大的，所以他们很少劝阻专业运动员尝试这种新时尚。

　　'Confidence is a huge part of the formula,' says Ralph Reiff, director of St. Vincent Sports Medicine Performance Center, Indianapolis. 'If a product is safe and not unethical and it buoys a player's confidence, it might give him an edge. I have no issue with it.'
　　美国印第安纳波利斯圣文森特运动药物效果中心(St. Vincent Sports Medicine Performance Center)主任赖夫(Ralph Reiff)表示，信心是处方当中很大的一个部分。如果某个产品是安全的，不违背道德，并且对选手信心有提高作用，这个产品就会给运动员带来优势。我不会反对。

　　Even Mr. Chamberlain conceded, during the champagne spray, 'It doesn't matter what it is you are wearing; if you believe in it, it works.'
　　就是乔巴，他在开香槟的时候也承认，戴什么不要紧，心诚则灵。

　　In short, most of these medical accessories work as well as a player's lucky game-day socks.
　　简单地说，这些医用的配饰当中，多数起到的作用跟选手比赛当天穿的幸运袜是一样的。

　　So why does the public keep buying them, spending some $4 billion a year on copper and magnetic jewelry alone?
　　那为什么公众都在不断地买这些东西，每年单在铜质和磁材首饰上就花费差不多40亿美元？

　　One reason is that ailments like arthritis often remain stubbornly resistant to mainstream medicines, so sufferers will try almost anything. Some 19% of rheumatoid-arthritis sufferers have tried copper bracelets, according to one survey. Another reason is that they're cheap, don't require a prescription and can make a user feel like he or she is in league with a celebrity endorser. And hope springs eternal when it comes to health care.
　　一个原因是，像关节炎这样的病痛，常常是主流药物起不了作用的，所以患者会尝试各种各样的办法。据一项调查，约19%的风湿关节炎患者尝试过铜手镯。另一个原因是成本低，不需要事先开处方，并且可以让使用者觉得自己是跟某个有名的代言人处在同一阵线。而至于疗效方面，希望会从内心油然而生。

　　Magnets: As far back as 200 B.C., Chinese healers believed that naturally magnetized rocks called lodestones could correct unhealthy imbalances in the body. European physicians in the Middle Ages had a wide variety of uses for magnets; in retrospect, some applications (retrieving arrowheads embedded in flesh, for instance) made more sense than others (combating baldness). Queen Elizabeth I's doctors used magnets to treat her arthritis, and the belief that magnets can alleviate pain persists today, despite scant scientific evidence.
　　磁：早在公元前200年，中国的术士就相信，天然磁石可以修复不利于健康的身体失衡。中世纪的欧洲医师把磁材用于多种用途；回过头来看，一些用途（比如从身体里取出箭头）比其他用途（抗谢顶）更靠谱。伊丽莎白女王一世的医生曾用磁材治疗她的关节炎，而今天还有人相信，磁材是可以减轻疼痛的，虽然鲜有科学上的证据。

　　Magnets are marketed in a variety of forms -- from bracelets and necklaces to magnet-studded insoles, muscle wraps and mattress pads. But after crackdowns by the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission, marketers no longer directly claim that their products have much effect.
　　磁材的兜售形式有多种，有手镯、项链，有安了磁片的鞋垫、护带和床垫。但经过美国食品和药物管理局(Food and Drug Administration，简称FDA)和联邦贸易委员会(Federal Trade Commission)的整顿，产品广告不再声称其有多大的疗效。

　　In the meantime, experts say magnets pose little harm -- although pregnant women and people who wear pacemakers, implanted defibrillators, insulin pumps and medication patches should avoid them.
　　与此同时，专家们也说，磁材基本不造成危害──虽然孕妇及带有起搏器、植入去颤器、胰岛素泵和药贴的人应当避免使用。

　　Copper: A trace mineral found in minute quantities in the body, copper plays a role in the cardiovascular, nervous and skeletal systems and in the body's ability to repair tissue. One theory is that too little copper can cause arthritis and other joint problems, and that absorbing it through the skin can restore a normal balance.
　　铜：作为人体内的一种微量元素，铜在心血管、神经和骨骼系统与身体组织修复功能中发挥著作用。有一种理论认为，铜过低会引起关节炎和其他关节问题，而让身体通过皮肤吸收进铜，就可以恢复正常平衡。

　　Scientific evidence is scant. Mr. Richmond says copper deficiency is probably a symptom and a consequence of arthritis and inflammation, not a cause.
　　很少有科学证据。里士满说，铜缺乏可能是关节炎的症状和后果，而非病因。

　　As with magnets, marketers of copper jewelry are careful about their health claims, even while blasting each other's products as inferior.
　　像卖磁材的一样，兜售铜首饰的贩子们在吹嘘疗效时也会小心谨慎，哪怕是在相互贬低对手产品的时候。

　　If you suspect you have a copper deficiency, it's best to see a doctor before using ingestible copper supplements. But wearing copper is generally seen as harmless.
　　如果你觉得自己缺铜，在使用可吸收铜作为辅助之前，最好是去看医生。不过一般认为，佩戴铜饰无害健康。

　　Titanium: It's been used for years in artificial joints because of its light weight and durability, but the current popularity of titanium-coated nylon necklaces among pro athletes is a little harder to explain.
　　钛：由于重量轻巧，经久耐用，钛被用作人工关节已有多年历史。但现在专业运动员人群热衷于佩戴镀钛尼龙项圈，解释起来就要困难一些了。

　　It began when Phiten, a Japanese company founded by a chiropractor in the 1980s, developed a way to dissolve nanoparticles of titanium in water and then infuse it into products including shirts, socks, stickers, athletic tape, necklaces and massage lotion.
　　还要从一家叫“法藤”的日本公司说起。这家由一位脊椎按摩师在上世纪80年代创办的公司，发明了一种办法，把钛纳米颗粒溶入水中，再用以浸泡衬衫、袜子、膏药、透气胶带、项圈和按摩润滑油。

　　Asked for scientific evidence, Phiten sent a study conducted at Japan's Kyoto Prefectural University and published this year in the journal Life Sciences showing that mice in cages with titanium-infused rubber sheets slept better than mice with placebo sheets. It concluded that titanium 'has a relaxant effect.'
　　问到科学证据时，法藤发来了日本京都府立大学(Kyoto Prefectural University)进行的、今年发表于《生命科学》杂志的研究文章。研究显示，放有浸钛橡胶垫的笼子里的老鼠，比安放一般垫子的笼子里的老鼠睡得更好。研究得出结论，钛具有一种“放松效应”。

　　Phiten's statements haven't been evaluated by the FDA. Nor has the NCCAM specifically studied titanium.
　　法藤的陈述没有经过FDA的评估。美国国家补充与替代医学中心(National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine，简称NCCAM)也没有专门对钛做过研究。

　　Silver: Before the dawn of antibiotics, silver was used on the skin as an antimicrobial agent and disinfectant and internally to treat epilepsy, gonorrhea and tropical sprue. Compounds like silver nitrate are still used to treat conjunctivitis in newborn babies, and silver sulfadiazine is sometimes used to treat burns.
　　银：抗生素问世之前，银被外用为抗菌剂和消毒剂，人们还拿来内服，用于治疗癫痫、淋病和热带口炎性腹泻。硝酸银等化合物仍在被用于新生儿结膜炎的治疗，磺胺嘧啶银有时候被用来医治烧伤。

　　But colloidal silver -- tiny particles suspended in liquid and sold as dietary supplements -- has regulators worried. Some Web sites claim colloidal silver sprays, lotions, injections or pills can prevent colds and flu and treat diabetes, cancer, chronic fatigue, herpes, shingles, prostatitis and HIV/AIDS.
　　但胶银──悬浮于液体的微小颗粒，被卖作膳食补充剂──已经引起了监管机构的担忧。一些网站声称，胶银粉末、乳液、注射剂或药片可以预防感冒和流感、治疗糖尿病、癌症、慢性疲劳、疱疹、带状疱疹、前列腺炎和艾滋病。

　　The NCCAM says such claims are unfounded. The FDA in 1999 issued a ruling that no products containing colloidal silver are recognized as safe or effective.
　　NCCAM表示，这些说法是没有根据的。FDA在1999年裁定，任何含有胶银的产品，都不被认定为安全或有效。

　　Indeed, ingesting excess silver can cause stomach distress, seizures, kidney damage and can turn skin a bluish-gray tint, a condition called argyria that is irreversible.
　　事实上，吸入过量银有可能引起胃痛、痉挛、肾损伤，并且有可能造成银中毒，症状为皮肤变为不可恢复的蓝灰色。

　　Gold: The ancient Egyptians thought that ingesting powdered gold would bring them immortality. Since the 18th century, doctors have used injections of gold salts to treat autoimmune disorders like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. But side effects were severe and as new rheumatoid arthritis treatments have been developed, gold salts have fallen out of favor in recent years.
　　金：古埃及人认为，吸入金粉即可长生不老。18世纪以来，医生通过注射金盐来治疗狼疮和风湿关节炎等自体免疫力紊乱。但副作用很严重，随着新的风湿关节炎治疗方法被开发出来，近些年金盐已经受到冷落。

　　Some marketers are peddling colloidal gold in tablet or liquid form as dietary supplements with vague promises of cognitive restoration.
　　一些商人在兜售片状或液体状的胶体金，用作膳食补充剂，闪烁其词地说是具有认知恢复功能。
　　
　　Melinda Beck