絲綢之路見聞 (一) --- 新彊長壽秘訣 Heard on the Silk Road(1): Uighur centenarian

Joke heard on the Silk Road: The Uighur in XinJiang, China are famous for their longevity. A foreign reporter visited Xinjiang and found a 90-year-old crying on the road side. The old man told the reporter that his father had just punished him. Asked the reporter, "Your father is still alive? Can I see him?" The old man brought him home. The reporter did see the old man's father, at least 110 years of age. The father sighed and said, "Why did I punish my son? He's already 90 years old but still doesn't obey his grandfather."

新彊聽來的笑話：維吾爾人以長壽見稱，一外國記者專程來採訪，見到一個九十多歲的老頭坐在路邊哭，老頭說：「爸爸在家打我，所以我走出來。」記者要求到老頭家去，真的看到老頭的爸爸，少說也一百一十多歲了。記者問起打兒子的原因，老頭的爸說：「唉，這孩子真不生性，九十多歲了，還經常不聽他爺爺的話。」

維吾爾人一般早上不喝水，常吃新彊盛產的葡萄或葡萄乾。早上不喝水與長壽有無關係，恕我不知。吃葡萄的習慣倒符合最新抗衰老學的發現，近年哈佛Medical School與MIT的研究員找出延壽因子sirtuins(對某些動物被証明可抗衰老，對人類的影响未確定)，而resveratrol可使sirtuins更活躍。Resveratrol多見於葡萄皮上，尤以紅葡萄為甚。大家如喜歡紅酒的話，Pinot Noir有最高的resveratrol含量，葡萄的產地以Burgundy及紐約州為佳，因為氣候凉；較熱的加州及澳洲所產的葡萄酒，resveratrol含量較低。