为治疗贫血 柬埔寨穷人煮“铁鱼”吃

When Canadian scientist Christopher Charles discovered six years ago how badly Cambodians were suffering from anemia, he decided to try and solve the problem. Unfortunately, tried-and-tested methods such as iron supplements and iron-rich diets didn’t work because they weren’t affordable. So he came up with the novel idea of using a small iron fish as a cooking ingredient!

6年前，当加拿大科学家克里斯托弗·查尔斯发现柬埔寨人贫血得多么严重时，他就决定要努力解决这个问题。不幸的是，尝试过的和测试过的，像补铁或吃富含铁的食物的方法都没用，因为他们买不起。所以他有了一个新奇的想法：用一条小铁鱼做烹饪的配料！

The people Charles was working with were the poorest of the poor, and couldn’t afford red meat or expensive iron pills. The women couldn’t even switch to iron pots because they were too heavy and costly. “Here I was in a village with no running water, no electricity and no way to use my computer — it was like a (research) baptism by fire,” Charles recalled.

查尔斯帮助的是穷人中的穷人，他们买不起牛羊肉或昂贵的补铁的药。妇女们甚至都不能换铁锅用，因为铁锅太重了，还很贵。查尔斯回忆说：“我待的这个村子没有自来水，没有电，我的电脑根本用不了——就像是一次研究经过了大火的洗礼。”

But inspiration struck eventually, and he decided that the best way cure anemia was to literally add iron to the food. “We knew some random piece of ugly metal wouldn’t work . . . so we had to come up with an attractive idea,” Charles said. Along with his research team, he came up with small, circular chunk of iron, but the women were hesitant to add it to their pots. They changed the prototype to a lotus shape, but the women didn’t like that either. So Charles dug deeper into Cambodian history and culture, and decided upon a piece of iron shaped like a fish – a symbol of good luck in Cambodia. And it worked! Women were more than happy to add it to their cooking pots and follow Charles’ instructions.

但最终灵感来了，他决定最好的治疗贫血的方法就是直接把铁添加到食物中。查尔斯说：“我们知道随便一块难看的金属是不管用的…所以我们想出了一个吸引人的主意。”他和研究团队想到了用一块小的圆形铁块，但妇女们很犹豫，不愿意把它放进锅里。他们把这个样品改成了莲花形，但妇女们还是不喜欢。因此查尔斯更深入地钻研了柬埔寨的历史和文化，并决定使用一块鱼形的铁——鱼在柬埔寨代表好运。这个方法真有效！妇女们非常开心地把它放到了做菜的锅里，并听从了查尔斯的指导。

“Boil up water or soup with the iron fish for at least 10 minutes,” he explained. “That enhances the iron which leaches from it. You can then take it out. Now add a little lemon juice which is important for the absorption of iron.”

他解释说：“把放铁鱼的水或汤烧开至少10分钟，可以提高铁的溶出量。然后就可以把铁鱼拿出来。再加入少许柠檬汁，非常有助于铁的吸收。”

The fish, when used in the right way, are designed to provide up to 75 percent of an adult’s daily iron requirement, and even more for a child. Studies revealed that within 12 months, several hundreds of villagers were cured of anemia. Approximately 2,500 families are currently using the fish, which are also being distributed to hospitals and nonprofit organisations across the country.

如果使用方法正确，这种铁鱼被设计用来为一个成年人补充多达75%的每天所需铁量，孩子能补充更多。研究显示12个月之后，几百名村民不再贫血了。大约2500个家庭目前正在使用这种鱼，也被分发给全国的医院和非盈利组织。