本周将在欧洲肥胖大会(ECO)上提交的新研究证明，没有足够证据证明饮食和草药补充剂与减肥有关，所以想减肥的人很难有理由选择这类产品。
Herbal supplements, part of a £29bn industry worldwide, can include green tea, white kidney beans, liquorice root and yerba mate. Just like diet products and weight loss shakes, herbal supplements have a questionable reputation when it comes to losing weight safely.
草药补充剂是全球290亿产业的一部分，可以包括绿茶、白腰豆、甘草和马黛茶。就像减肥产品和减肥奶昔一样，草药补充剂在安全减肥方面的名声也不太好。
"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 of the findings that are due to presented this week.
悉尼大学的主要作者Erica Bessell说：“尽管大多数补充剂短期服用是安全的，但它们无法提供临床意义上的减肥效果。”
The researchers from the University of Sydney used a systematic review of 54 past randomised trials which measured the effectiveness and impact of weight loss supplements against placebos. Over the 54 trials, 4331 healthy, overweight and obese individuals had been monitored, with the results eventually showing that only one herbal ingredient, white kidney beans, provided more significant signs of weight loss than the placebo.
悉尼大学的研究人员对54项过去的随机试验进行了系统的分析，这些试验分析了减肥补充剂对比安慰剂的有效性和影响。在54项试验中，共监测了4331名健康、超重和肥胖的个体，果最终显示，只有一种中草药成分---- 白芸豆---- 比安慰剂提供了更明显的减肥迹象。
"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."
“草药和膳食补充剂似乎是解决体重问题的一种快速解决方案，但是人们需要意识到我们对它们知之甚少,”Bessell 说，“对某些补充剂进行的高质量研究很少，长期食用的有效性数据也很少。”
"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.”
“更重要的是，许多试验规模小，设计不当，有些没有报告正在调查的补充剂的成分。该行业的巨大增长和这些产品的普及，突显出迫切需要进行更大、更严格的研究，以保证其安全性和减肥效果。”
