增強(qiáng)記憶認(rèn)知免疫情緒，又有理由吃巧克力了

Just a single chocolate bar may boost memory, cognition, immunity, and mood

增強(qiáng)記憶認(rèn)知免疫情緒，只要一條巧克力棒

Study after study has found an association between chocolate and some kind of cognitive enhancement. As far as brain foods go, chocolate takes the cake, with scientists finding it improves memory function and delays age-related memory decline. Now, two new studies have found that chocolate — dark chocolate, to be more precise — may not only boost memory and cognition but the immune system and mood, as well.

一項又一項研究表明：巧克力和提高認(rèn)知水平存在聯(lián)系?？茖W(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，巧克力能夠增強(qiáng)認(rèn)知功能、延緩衰老性記憶退化。所以，就大腦益處而言，巧克力戰(zhàn)勝了蛋糕。如今，美國羅馬林達(dá)大學(xué)的研究人員進(jìn)行了兩項新研究，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)：巧克力(確切地說，是黑巧克力)不僅能夠增強(qiáng)記憶和認(rèn)知，而且有益免疫系統(tǒng)和情緒。

In the first study, healthy volunteers were asked to ingest 48 grams of dark chocolate — the equivalent of a chocolate bar — and then had their brains scanned with EEG 30 minutes and 60 minutes after eating the chocolate. The brain scans showed that gamma waves increased in various areas of the cortex, particularly in those regions involved in cognition and memory. The changes were significant during the first measurement but returned to normal during the second one, suggesting the positive effects of dark chocolate on the brain don’t last more than an hour.

在第一項研究中，他們招募了一批健康的志愿者，讓他們吃48克黑巧克力(相當(dāng)于一條巧克力棒)，其中的可可含量為70%。吃完巧克力30及60分鐘后，研究人員分別對他們進(jìn)行腦電圖(EEG)掃描。掃描結(jié)果顯示：第一次測量時，大腦皮層有許多區(qū)域的γ波增強(qiáng)了，特別是和認(rèn)知、記憶有關(guān)的區(qū)域;但在第二次測量時，他們的腦電波回歸了正常。這意味著，黑巧克力對大腦具有積極效應(yīng)，但持續(xù)時間不超過一小時。“

In the second study, volunteers ingested the same variety and quantity of chocolate as above, only they did so every day for a week. They also had to abstain from high-antioxidant foods in the days leading to the study. Researchers sampled the blood of each participant shortly after they had eaten the chocolate, in order to sequence their genes.

在第二項研究中，志愿者每天吃48克黑巧克力，連續(xù)吃一星期。——在研究開始前幾天里，他們需要避免食用高抗氧化食物。吃完巧克力后，研究人員采集他們的血液樣本，進(jìn)行基因測序。This analysis showed that genes that are involved in the immune response, such as those known to activate white blood cells, became boosted as a result of ingesting dark chocolate. Meanwhile, genes linked to inflammation had a reduced expression. What’s more, the expression of genes known to be involved in neural signaling and sensory perception also increased.

分析結(jié)果顯示：食用黑巧克力后，和免疫反應(yīng)(如激活白細(xì)胞)、神經(jīng)信號、感官知覺有關(guān)的基因表達(dá)有所增強(qiáng)，和炎癥有關(guān)的基因表達(dá)有所減弱。

For many years, scientists used to think that chocolate bars influence neurological functions because of their sugar content — the more sugar in the chocolate, the happier we are. But this is a gross simplification that doesn’t capture the full picture. Instead, the researchers say that the neurological benefits of cocoa can be directly traced to its polyphenols or antioxidants.

多年來，科學(xué)家一直認(rèn)為，巧克力之所以影響神經(jīng)功能，是由于其中的糖分——巧克力含糖量越高，吃完就越開心。但研究人員認(rèn)為，可可的神經(jīng)益處或許和多酚類或抗氧化物存在直接聯(lián)系。

The new findings are important because they suggest that even relatively small portions of bitter chocolate can have measurable effects on our moods and cognitive abilities. As a caveat, both studies only involved ten participants, which may prove to be a far too small sample size to draw meaningful conclusions. In the future, the researchers plan on involving more participants in the study and tweaking the dosage to see just how much dark chocolate someone should each to expect measurable results.

這兩項研究表明，即使攝入少量黑巧克力，也能夠顯著提升人們的情緒、認(rèn)知能力、免疫功能。不過，這兩項研究的樣本容量很小，只有10位研究對象，因此或許不足以得出有意義的結(jié)論。接下來，研究人員打算招募更多志愿者，并調(diào)整巧克力攝入量，探究吃多少黑巧克力才能夠帶來明顯的測量結(jié)果。