提高記憶力?試試巧克力

To Improve a Memory, Consider Chocolate

提高記憶力?試試巧克力

Science edged closer on Sunday to showing that an antioxidant in chocolate appears to improve some memory skills that people lose with age.

周日(指2014年10月26日)發(fā)布的科研成果進一步表明，巧克力中的一種抗氧化劑似乎可以幫助增進人們隨著年齡增長而逐漸喪失的某些記憶技能。

In a small study in the journal Nature Neuroscience, healthy people, ages 50 to 69, who drank a mixture high in antioxidants called cocoa flavanols for three months performed better on a memory test than people who drank a low-flavanol mixture.

《自然神經科學》(Nature Neuroscience)雜志以年齡在50歲至69歲之間、身體健康的個人為對象進行了一項小規(guī)模研究。一些人連續(xù)3個月一直在喝可可黃烷醇含量較高的混合物——可可黃烷醇是抗氧化劑;另外一些人則在喝黃烷醇含量較低的混合物。在隨后的記憶測試中，前者的表現(xiàn)好于后者。

On average, the improvement of high-flavanol drinkers meant they performed like people two to three decades younger on the study’s memory task, said Dr. Scott A. Small, a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center and the study’s senior author. They performed about 25 percent better than the low-flavanol group.

研究報告的資深作者、哥倫比亞大學醫(yī)療中心(Columbia University Medical Center)的神經學家斯科特·A·斯莫爾(Scott A. Small)博士稱，攝入高劑量黃烷醇者的記憶得到了改善，從記憶測試的成績來看，這些人平均而言仿佛年輕了二三十歲。他們的分數比攝入低劑量黃烷醇者高 25%。

“An exciting result,” said Craig Stark, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in the research. “It’s an initial study, and I sort of view this as the opening salvo.”

“這一成果令人興奮，”并未參與該研究的加利福尼亞大學歐文分校(University of California, Irvine)神經生物學家克雷格·斯塔克(Craig Stark)說，“它是一個初步的研究，在我看來這在某種程度上只是拉開序幕。”

He added, “And look, it’s chocolate. Who’s going to complain about chocolate?”

“而且你看，這可是巧克力。誰會對巧克力有意見呢?”他補充說。

The findings support recent research linking flavanols, especially epicatechin, to improved blood circulation, heart health and memory in mice, snails and humans. But experts said the new study, although involving only 37 participants and partly funded by Mars Inc., the chocolate company, goes further and was a well-controlled, randomized trial led by experienced researchers.

上述新發(fā)現(xiàn)印證了最近的一些研究。這些研究表明：黃烷醇——尤其是兒茶素——可以改善老鼠、蛇以及人類的血液循環(huán)、心臟健康和記憶力。不過有專家稱，盡管這項新研究只有37個參與者，部分資金還是由巧克力生產商瑪氏公司(Mars Inc.)提供的，但它更為深入，而且是一次由經驗豐富的研究人員領導的、受到良好控制的隨機試驗。

Besides improvements on the memory test — a pattern recognition test involving the kind of skill used in remembering where you parked the car or recalling the face of someone you just met — researchers found increased function in an area of the brain’s hippocampus called the dentate gyrus, which has been linked to this type of memory.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，除了在記憶測試中有所進步——那是一種模式識別測試，牽涉到回憶你在哪里停的車或者你剛剛遇見的某人的面孔時所使用的某種技能——服用高劑量黃烷醇者腦部海馬區(qū)齒狀回的功能也得到了加強。人們認為齒狀回是與這類記憶相關聯(lián)的。

“Boy, this is really interesting to see it in three months,” said Dr. Steven DeKosky, a neurologist and visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “They got this really remarkable increase in a place in the brain that we know is related to age-related memory change.”

“哇噢!3個月后再去觀察它可真有趣，”神經學家、匹茲堡大學(University of Pittsburgh)訪問教授史蒂芬·迪克斯基(Steven DeKosky)博士說，“他們大腦中的這個部位得到了顯著增長。我們知道，它與關乎年齡的記憶力變化存在著關聯(lián)。”

There was no increased activity in another hippocampal region, the entorhinal cortex, which is impaired early in Alzheimer’s disease. That reinforces the idea that age-related memory decline is different and suggests that flavanols might not help Alzheimer’s, even though they might delay normal memory loss.

但海馬區(qū)內嗅皮質的活躍度并未增強——該部位會在阿爾茨海默氏病早期受損。由此強化了這樣一種觀念：與年齡有關的記憶力下降是另外一碼事;同時表明，盡管黃烷醇或許可以延緩正常的記憶力衰退，但對阿爾茨海默氏病患者而言可能并不管用。

But unless you are stocking up for Halloween, do not rush to buy Milky Way or Snickers bars. To consume the high-flavanol group’s daily dose of epicatechin, 138 milligrams, would take eating at least 300 grams of dark chocolate a day — about seven average-sized bars. Or possibly about 100 grams of baking chocolate or unsweetened cocoa powder, but concentrations vary widely depending on the processing. Milk chocolate has most epicatechin processed out of it.

不過，除非你在為萬圣節(jié)囤貨，否則可別急于購買銀河系牛奶巧克力(Milky Way)或士力架(Snickers)巧克力棒。要達到高劑量黃烷醇那組的人每天138毫克的兒茶素攝入量，一天至少得吃300克黑巧克力——約合7根中等大小的巧克力棒?；蛘呷コ缘?00克烘培巧克力或不加糖的可可粉，但兒茶素的含量因加工流程的不同而存在極大的差異。牛奶巧克力里的大部分兒茶素都會在加工過程中流失。

“You would have to eat a large amount of chocolate,” along with its fat and calories, said Hagen Schroeter, director of fundamental health and nutrition research for Mars, which funds many flavanol studies and approached Dr. Small for this one. (“I nearly threw them out,” said Dr. Small, who added that he later concluded that the company employed serious scientists who would not bias the research.) Mars financed about half the study; other funders were the National Institutes of Health and two research foundations.

“你將不得不吞下大量巧克力”，包括其中的脂肪和卡路里——瑪氏公司基礎保健與營養(yǎng)研究主任哈根·施羅特(Hagen Schroeter)說道?，斒腺Y助過多項與黃烷醇有關的研究，并就這項新研究接觸過斯莫爾博士。(斯莫爾博士說，“我差不多是把他們轟了出去”，接著又補充道，他后來得出結論，這家公司雇傭了一些嚴肅認真的科學家，不會令研究帶有傾向性。)瑪氏為這項研究提供了一半資金，其他資助者為美國國立衛(wèi)生研究院 (National Institutes of Health)和兩家研究基金會。

“Candy bars don’t even have a lot of chocolate in them,” Dr. Schroeter said. And “most chocolate uses a process called batching and alkalization. That’s like poison for flavanol.”

“糖棒里甚至不會含有太多巧克力，”施羅特博士說。而且“大部分巧克力的生產都要經過配制和堿化這道工序。”這相當于把黃烷醇關進監(jiān)獄。

Mars already sells a supplement, CocoaVia, which it says promotes healthy circulation, including for the heart and brain. It contains 20 to 25 milligrams of epicatechin per capsule or packet of powder, Dr. Schroeter said; 30 packets cost $34.95. Epicatechin is also in foods like tea and apples, although may be less absorbable.

瑪氏已經推出了一款名為可維亞(CocoaVia)的補品。該公司稱，可維亞能夠促進循環(huán)系統(tǒng)的暢通，包括心臟循環(huán)和腦循環(huán)系統(tǒng)。施羅特說，每?？删S亞膠囊或每包可維亞粉含有20克至25克兒茶素;每30包34.96美元。茶、蘋果等食品里也含有表兒茶素，但不太易于吸收。

The Columbia study had important limitations. For example, the only daily dietary requirements were either 900 milligrams of flavanols with 138 milligrams of epicatechin or 10 milligrams of flavanols with less than two milligrams of epicatechin, so participants could have eaten other things that played a role.

哥倫比亞大學醫(yī)療中心的研究有一些重要的局限性。例如，對日常飲食的唯一要求是，要么服用900毫克黃烷醇(含138毫克兒茶素)，要么服用10毫克黃烷醇(含不到2毫克兒茶素)，因此參與者可能吃了其他一些對實驗結果有影響的東西。

And while researchers also had half of the healthy but sedentary participants in each group exercise four days a week, surprisingly, the exercise had no memory or brain effects.

此外，研究人員從每個組里身體健康但不愛活動的參與者中挑出一半，讓他們每周運動4天。但奇怪的是，竟然沒發(fā)現(xiàn)鍛煉對記憶和大腦有影響。

Dr. Small, whose research previously found that exercise helped hippocampal function in younger people, suggested maybe more vigorous exercise is needed to affect older brains.

斯莫爾博士以前開展過的研究表明，運動能夠增強年輕人海馬體的功能。在他看來，也許運動量更大一點，才能對老年人的大腦產生影響。

“It’s a very clever, interesting study, but there are some caveats,” said Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “People are going to say, ‘It looks like I can have a lot of candy bars and not exercise.’ So it needs replication on a much larger scale.”

“這是一項非常精巧、有趣的研究，但有些問題需要注意，”加州大學圣巴巴拉分校(University of California, Santa Barbara)的神經科學家肯尼斯·S·科西克(Kenneth S. Kosik)說，“人們會說，‘看起來我可以大嚼糖棒，還不用運動了。’因此有必要進行更大規(guī)模的復制性研究。”

More extensive research is planned. As for why flavanols would help memory, one theory is that they improve brain blood flow; another, favored by Dr. Small, is that they cause dendrites, message-receiving branches of neurons, to grow.

更多更廣泛的研究正在計劃之中。至于黃烷醇為什么可以幫助提高記憶力，一種理論是說它們能夠促進腦部的血液流動，另一種是說它們能夠促進樹突，也就是神經元信息接收分支的生長。斯莫爾博士支持后者。