增强记忆认知免疫情绪，又有理由吃巧克力了

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

增强记忆认知免疫情绪，只要一条巧克力棒

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.

一项又一项研究表明：巧克力和提高认知水平存在联系。科学家发现，巧克力能够增强认知功能、延缓衰老性记忆退化。所以，就大脑益处而言，巧克力战胜了蛋糕。如今，美国罗马林达大学的研究人员进行了两项新研究，他们发现：巧克力(确切地说，是黑巧克力)不仅能够增强记忆和认知，而且有益免疫系统和情绪。

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.

在第一项研究中，他们招募了一批健康的志愿者，让他们吃48克黑巧克力(相当于一条巧克力棒)，其中的可可含量为70%。吃完巧克力30及60分钟后，研究人员分别对他们进行脑电图(EEG)扫描。扫描结果显示：第一次测量时，大脑皮层有许多区域的γ波增强了，特别是和认知、记忆有关的区域;但在第二次测量时，他们的脑电波回归了正常。这意味着，黑巧克力对大脑具有积极效应，但持续时间不超过一小时。“

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.

在第二项研究中，志愿者每天吃48克黑巧克力，连续吃一星期。——在研究开始前几天里，他们需要避免食用高抗氧化食物。吃完巧克力后，研究人员采集他们的血液样本，进行基因测序。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.

分析结果显示：食用黑巧克力后，和免疫反应(如激活白细胞)、神经信号、感官知觉有关的基因表达有所增强，和炎症有关的基因表达有所减弱。

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.

多年来，科学家一直认为，巧克力之所以影响神经功能，是由于其中的糖分——巧克力含糖量越高，吃完就越开心。但研究人员认为，可可的神经益处或许和多酚类或抗氧化物存在直接联系。

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.

这两项研究表明，即使摄入少量黑巧克力，也能够显著提升人们的情绪、认知能力、免疫功能。不过，这两项研究的样本容量很小，只有10位研究对象，因此或许不足以得出有意义的结论。接下来，研究人员打算招募更多志愿者，并调整巧克力摄入量，探究吃多少黑巧克力才能够带来明显的测量结果。