别乱吃绿茶提取物

A few weeks ago, a patient came to me complaining of nausea, muscle weakness and fatigue. Her urine was tea-colored despite drinking loads of water. A middle-aged woman, she seemed worried she had cancer or some deadly disease.

几周之前，一位病人向我诉说她恶心、肌肉无力以及疲劳的症状。虽然她喝了很多水，但她的尿液依然呈茶色。这名中年女性似乎担心自己患了癌症或其他致命疾病。

Her lab tests revealed significant liver dysfunction. But her symptoms were not due to liver cancer, hepatitis or other disease. It turned out she had liver toxicity from a green tea supplement that she'd heard was a "natural" way to lose weight.

化验显示她的肝功能明显异常。但她的症状并非因为肝癌、肝炎或其他疾病。原来她是因为一种绿茶补充剂而导致肝中毒，她曾听说绿茶补充剂是一种“天然的”减肥方式。

When she stopped taking the supplement at my suggestion, her liver tests gradually normalized and she felt better over the course of a few weeks.

在她按照我的建议停止服用这种补充剂之后，她的肝功能检测逐渐恢复正常，而且几周之后，她感觉好多了。

I've seen the green tea issue in patients before and often witness the real-life pitfalls of eschewing traditional medicine, science and facts in favor of supplements, herbs and cleanses in the name of "natural" healing.

我以前也见过病人因绿茶而患病，而且经常见到现实生活中的陷阱，有人以“自然”疗愈的名义而选择补充剂、药草和清洗剂，却回避了传统医学、科学和事实。

In an effort to be healthy, patients can easily become ensnared in the potential dangers of alternative medicine or homeopathy.

为了保持健康，病人很容易陷入替代疗法或顺势疗法的潜在危险中。

Let's be clear: Nature has a lot to offer patients. But nature isn't always so well-intended.

我们要明白一点：自然界为病人提供了很多（有益的事物）。但自然界并非总是善意的。

An important key to health is using nature appropriately.

保持健康的重要一点就是合理利用自然。

And in the case of my patient, she was able to lose weight when we made a clear plan to alter her basic human behaviors.

以我的病人为例，我们制定了一个清晰的计划，改变她日常的行为习惯来帮助她减肥。

Before she started taking the green tea extract, she was skipping breakfast, drinking the equivalent of two Venti coffees before noon, eating takeout meals for lunch, washing down her late-night dinner with two glasses of wine, sleeping restlessly, and spending too much time sitting and indoors.

在她开始喝绿茶提取物之前，她不吃早餐，中午之前喝两大杯咖啡，午餐吃外卖，夜里很晚才吃晚餐，而且还会喝两杯葡萄酒，睡得不安稳，而且多数时间在室内坐着。

Green tea extract was never going to be the quick fix that she - and other patients I have seen - had hoped. It may be attractive as a natural cure for extra body fat, but this promise has not been shown in any studies, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the National Institutes of Health.

绿茶提取物永远不会成为她和我见过的其他病人所希望的那种速效良药。美国国立卫生研究院国家补充与综合健康中心表示，作为一种减掉体内多余脂肪的天然疗法，绿茶提取物也许很有吸引力，但这一疗法并未在任何研究中得到证实。