念慈菴枇杷膏在美國熱銷的美文

If there’s one thing New Yorkers love more than discovering a new secret remedy, it’s telling other New Yorkers about it.

紐約人最熱衷的事除了發現治病新祕方，還有就是把新祕方分享給其他人。

“I’d been super sick for a week and half and couldn’t stop coughing,” said Alex Schweder, an architect and professor of design at Pratt Institute.

世界第9大藝術學院普瑞特的教授兼建築師Alex Schweder告訴記者，“我已經病了一個多星期了，一直都在咳嗽”

That’s when his girlfriend gave him a bottle of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, an “herbal dietary supplement with honey and loquat,” according to the label.

就在那時，他的女朋友給了一瓶念慈菴枇杷膏，這是一種“蜂蜜和枇杷的草藥補品”。

“This started working in 15 minutes,” said Mr. Schweder.

“神奇的是，15分鐘就開始見效了，”Schweder說。

“I’ve probably gotten about five people to try it, but I’ve told many more.”

“已經安利給5個人試過，並且我分享給了更多的人。”

Mr. Schweder’s girlfriend, Oberon Sinclair, owner of a creative agency, first learned about the herbal supplement nearly 30 years ago when she was living in Hong Kong.

他的女友Oberon Sinclair是一家創意公司的老闆，近30年前在香港生活時，第一次聽說這種草藥補品。

The remedy, often referred to simply as Pei Pa Koa, is sold both in cough-drop form and more commonly in 10-ounce bottles in Chinese markets and Chinese pharmacies for approximately $7 as well as online through third parties for up to $70.

這個藥方被稱爲“枇杷膏”，在中國市場和線上線下的藥店每瓶10盎司(約300ml)售價在7美元，而透過代購則高達70美元。

Taking herbal supplements can involve health risks, including when they are used with medicines, consumed in excess or taken instead of prescription medication, said Dr. Keith Brenner, specialist in pulmonary medicine at Columbia University Medical Center at the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

紐約長老會醫院哥倫比亞大學醫學中心的肺醫學專家Keith Brenner 博士說，服用草藥補充劑可能會帶來健康風險，包括服用藥物時，過量服用或服用非處方藥。

“I think people that use these things may not even disclose them to the physician, and it’s a problem,” he said.

他說：“我認爲，使用這些藥物的人甚至可能不會向醫生透露這些資訊，這會存在隱患。”

“There’s been well-established interactions between herbal and prescription, and the doctor can pick up on it if the patient discloses it.”

“現在處方中也會開一些草藥，如果患者提到了在服用或服用過一些草藥，醫生會對其進行更全面的檢查。”

The Food and Drug Administration advises consumers to speak to a health-care provider before taking a supplement and to be wary of any product claims that sound too good to be true.

美國食品和藥物管理局建議消費者在服用保健品前先與醫療服務提供者進行溝通，並對那些虛假宣傳的產品提出警告。

The agency doesn’t have the authority to review dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness.

該機構沒有權力審查膳食補充劑的安全性和有效性。

Herbal remedies with loquat have been produced in China for hundreds of years.

在中國使用枇杷作爲中草藥已有幾百年的歷史。

The Nin Jiom Medicine Manufactory began producing Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa in Hong Kong in 1946.

1946年，京都念慈菴總廠有限公司在香港成立。

The Chinese characters on the bottle translate to “Beijing, in memory of my mother loquat thick paste.”

瓶子上的漢字(京都念慈菴)翻譯過來的意思是“北京，念親恩的枇杷膏。”

The company began marketing it to mainland China, North America, and Europe in the 1980s.

該公司在20世紀80年代開始將其推廣到中國大陸、北美和歐洲市場。

Competing loquat syrup remedies are still produced in Hong Kong, but they remain less popular.

在香港，人們仍在生產與之競爭的`枇杷糖漿，但它們的受歡迎程度仍然較低。

“All of a sudden, everybody is talking about it,” said Ching Weh Chen, owner of Pearl River, a Chinese market in New York City where the syrup is sold for $7.80.

“突然之間，每個人都在談論它，”在紐約的中國市場——珠江百貨的老闆陳煒說，“這款糖漿的售價爲7.80美元。”

“Chinese people have known about it for a long, long time.

“中國人早就知道這件事了。”

It goes back to Qing dynasty, but now it’s Caucasian customers coming in and asking for it.”

它可以追溯到清朝時期，但現在是白人顧客進來要貨了。”

Sue Decottis, a physician in internal medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center who also has a private practice, says herbals can have some value and she will, on occasion, recommend them to her patients.

紐約大學蘭貢醫學中心內科內科醫生 Sue Decottis 也有私人診所，她說草藥可以有一定的價值，她有時會向病人推薦這些藥物。

She hasn’t prescribed Pei Pa Koa.

她沒有把枇杷膏當成處方。

“There’s also the placebo effect with anything like that, but there’s no real money behind it to do big studies,” Dr. Decottis said.

“還有安慰劑效應，但目前後面沒有資金支援這個草藥的藥理研究，”Decottis 醫生說。

“I got a bottle of it in the height of my flu which seemed to hang about this year for two months deep in my chest and not let go,” said Matthew Modine, the actor currently starring in Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

“我在流感最嚴重的時候喝了一瓶，今年流感似乎駐紮進了我的肺，都兩個月了，病就是不好，”目前在Netflix推出的美劇“怪奇物語”(Stranger Things)中擔任主角的Matthew Modine說。

Mr. Modine bought the product on Amazon and paid about $30.

Modine先生在亞馬遜上買了這款產品，花了大約30美元。

“My only trepidation was that it was coming from a country with different standards,” said Mr. Modine, who was familiar with loquat from his childhood in Los Angeles.

“我唯一擔心的是，它來自一個有着不同標準的國家，”Modine先生說，他在洛杉磯的童年時代對枇杷很熟悉。

“They’d fall off a tree and we’d pick them up and throw them at cars.”

“枇杷會從樹上掉下來，然後我們會撿起來扔到汽車裏去。”

“With respect to influenza, the most critical time to get attention is when the virus hits because antivirals like Tamiflu need to be administered within the first 48 hours if they’re going to be effective,” said Dr. Brenner.

“就流感而言，需要重視的最關鍵時刻是病毒感染的時間，因爲如果達菲等抗病毒藥物有效的話，需要在最初48小時內服用，”Brenner博士說。

“If herbals are the first line of defense, we’d lose that window, especially if someone has other medical problems, and there’s a higher risk the flu virus will lead to hospitalization or even death.”

“如果將草藥作爲第一道防線，我們就會失去這個視窗期，特別是如果有人有其他的醫療問題，那麼流感病毒就會導致住院甚至更可怕的死亡風險。”

New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker urged everyone to get a flu shot and said anyone with flu symptomsshould see their health-care provider.

紐約州衛生局局長Howard Zucker敦促每個人注射流感疫苗，並說任何有流感症狀的人都應該去看他們的醫療服務提供者。

Poet Max Blagg, who learned about Pei Pa Koa from an acupuncturist in Chinatown, said: “I was a little apprehensive.

詩人 Max Blagg 從唐人街的鍼灸師那裏知道的枇杷膏，他說：“我有點擔心。

If you look on the label, there’s a thousand herbs you’ve never heard of.”

如果你看一下標籤，有一千種你從未聽說過的藥草。”

Mr. Blagg passed the recommendation along to painter James Gilroy, who had the flu for three weeks.

他把這個方子告訴了患流感持續三週的畫家James Gilroy。

“He showed me a bottle with some crazy Chinese writing on it and I thought no, I’m going to go to a doctor,” said Mr. Gilroy.

“他給我看了一個瓶子，上面寫着一些瘋狂的中文，我想，不，我還是去看醫生比較穩妥，”Gilroy說。