吃酸奶来对抗感冒?

吃酸奶来对抗感冒?

This winter, there's a good chance you might be looking for anything and everything to rid yourself of an annoying, lingering and sometimes debilitating cold.

今年冬天，你很有可能正在寻找任何东西来摆脱恼人的、挥之不去的、有时会使人虚弱的感冒。

You may want to add yogurt to your list of cold-fighting remedies.

你可能想把酸奶添加到你的治疗感冒的清单中。

"When it comes to yogurt specifically, I'd say there's not a lot of research that we can point to that indicates yogurt reduces symptoms of a cold," said Mickey Rubin, vice president of nutrition research for the National Dairy Council. That being said, "There are some things (in yogurt) we can point to that, in theory, would be beneficial."

美国国家乳制品委员会(National Dairy Council)负责营养研究的副主席米基·鲁宾(Mickey Rubin)说:“具体到酸奶，我想说的是，没有多少研究表明酸奶能减轻感冒症状。”也就是说，“(酸奶)中有一些东西我们可以指出，理论上是有益的。”

For example, yogurt is full of probiotics, which can help boost the immune system, according to Kristi L. King, a senior registered dietitian at Texas Children's Hospital and a national spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

例如，德克萨斯儿童医院(Texas Children’s Hospital)高级注册营养师、营养与饮食学会(Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)全国发言人克里斯蒂·l·金(Kristi L. King)说，酸奶富含益生菌，可以帮助增强免疫系统。

Studies that have looked at probiotics have found promising results in terms of reducing the duration and incidence of colds. However, specific benefits can only be attributed to the actual strains studied -- which do not necessarily exist in regular, non-supplemented yogurt, according to Rubin. For example, conventional yogurt contains Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus -- two cultures that are integral to the yogurt making process, and as such are known as "starter cultures." While these are beneficial bacteria, they are not necessarily the same probiotics that have been studied in clinical trials, according to Rubin.

对益生菌的研究发现，益生菌在减少感冒持续时间和发病率方面有很好的效果。然而，鲁宾表示，具体的好处只能归因于研究的实际菌株，而普通的、不添加任何添加剂的酸奶中不一定存在这种菌株。例如，传统酸奶含有保加利亚乳杆菌和嗜热链球菌——这两种培养物是酸奶制作过程中不可或缺的，因此被称为“发酵剂”。鲁宾说，虽然这些都是有益的细菌，但它们不一定与临床试验中研究的益生菌相同。

"We know yogurt is a nutritious food choice and we know probiotics are beneficial to health, so including them in an overall healthy eating plan makes sense, but recommending them specifically for the common cold would be premature," said Rubin.

鲁宾说:“我们知道酸奶是一种营养丰富的食品，我们也知道益生菌对健康有益，所以把它们纳入全面的健康饮食计划是有道理的，但专门针对普通感冒推荐它们还为时过早。”

Yogurt also contains another immune booster: zinc. Research indicates that zinc can reduce the duration of cold symptoms, but the amounts of zinc needed for benefits -- at least 75 milligrams -- is much higher than the 2 milligrams present in an 8-ounce cup of yogurt.

酸奶还含有另一种增强免疫力的物质:锌。研究表明，锌可以缩短感冒症状的持续时间，但锌的含量——至少75毫克——远远高于一杯8盎司的酸奶所含的2毫克。

Carbohydrates in yogurt provide energy, which are important in helping you recover from a cold, according to King. And one recent study, funded by the National Dairy Council, found that when women consumed yogurt every day for nine weeks, they had reduced inflammatory markers in their blood -- findings that suggest a mechanism by which yogurt might be helpful in fighting off cold symptoms.

金说，酸奶中的碳水化合物提供能量，这对帮助你从感冒中恢复很重要。最近一项由美国国家乳制品委员会(National Dairy Council)资助的研究发现，在连续9周的时间里，女性每天饮用酸奶时，血液中的炎症指标有所降低——这一发现表明，酸奶可能有助于对抗感冒症状。

"The common cold and its symptoms are an inflammatory response to the bug ... such that if yogurt or other foods reduced inflammation, it could in theory be beneficial -- but we need more research to know for sure," said Rubin.

“普通感冒及其症状是对这种病毒的炎症反应……因此，如果酸奶或其他食物能减少炎症，理论上是有益的——但我们需要更多的研究来确定这一点，”鲁宾说。