食物如何影响心情.doc

食物如何影响心情Scientists are proving that whats in the foods you eat can effect the chemical composition of your brain. The foods you eat can affect your mood, including your level of alertness and your perception of pain. 科学家证实了人们吃的食物会影响人脑的化学组成，你所吃的食物会影响你的心情，包括你警觉的程度以及对疼痛的感知。 What is it about foods that yields this kind of power? It is foods ability to alter the production or release of neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that carry information from one nerve cell to another. Neurotransmitters are responsible for such important bits of information, like “Im full” or, “AGG! Im very anxious about this!” 食物怎么会产生这样的功效？原来食物可以改变神经递质（一种在神经细胞之间传递信息的化学物质）的分泌与释放，神经递质可以产生这样的信息，诸如“我饱了”，“我对此十分焦虑”等等。The Theory理论介绍 Just how does a food affect neurotransmitters? According to Dr. Richard Wurtman at MIT, who is involved in numerous studies on nutrition and the brain, the nutrients in foods are precursors to neurotransmitters, and depending on the amount of precursors present in the food you eat, the more or less of a certain neurotransmitter is produced. Although this process may seem fairly straightforward, it is complicated by the fact that foods most often are made up of more than one nutrient, and how those different nutrients interact will also impact the production and release of neurotransmitters. 那么食物是如何影响神经递质的分泌与释放的呢？据在“营养与大脑”领域进行了大量的研究的麻省理工的Dr. Richard Wurtman，食物中的营养是合成神经递质的原料，并且它的合成取决于食物中营养素的多少。虽然这个过程看起来很简单，但是事实上它由于食物中不仅含有一种营养而变得复杂，而且不同营养物质的相互作用也会影响神经递质的释放。The Practice实际运用 Despite the complexity, there are certain established bits of knowledge of how food affects your mood that you can put into practice. 尽管理论很复杂，这里有一些实用的知识有关食物怎样影响心情的，你可以运用到实际生活中。 Boost your alertness with protein. Protein foods are broken down into their amino acid building blocks during digestion. One amino acid, called tyrosine, will increase the production of dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine. These neurotransmitters are known for their ability to increase levels of alertness and energy. No one eats pure tyrosine, but eating foods high in protein will give you a slight mental boost. High protein foods include fish, poultry, meat, and eggs. If you cant eat those, try high protein foods that also contain significant amount of carbohydrates, such as legumes, cheese, milk, or tofu. 蛋白质使你保持清醒 在消化的过程中，蛋白质会被分解为氨基酸。有一种叫做酪氨酸的氨基酸，可以提高多巴胺，去甲肾上腺素和肾上腺素的合成量。这些神经递质的功能在于提高人的警觉性和能量。没有人可以摄入纯净的酪氨酸，但是吃高蛋白的食物可以帮助你稍微地促进神经系统的兴奋性。高蛋白的食物包含鱼肉，猪肉和蛋。如果你不能吃这类食物，可以尝试其它含有高蛋白但同时富含碳水化合物的食物如豆制品，乳酪，牛奶和豆腐。 For relaxation and anti-stress, eat carbohydrates. Eating carbohydrates will trigger the release of insulin into the blood stream. Insulin goes about clearing all the amino acids out of the blood, with the exception of tryptophan. Tryptophan is an amino acid that normally gets crowded out by other amino acids in its attempt to cross the blood brain barrier, but when its competitors are out of the way, it enters the brain en mass. Once in the brain, the tryptophan is converted to serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has the effect of reducing pain, decreasing appetite, and producing a sense of calm, and in too large a quantity, inducing sleep. Research has shown that dieters tend to become depressed about two weeks into a diet, about the time their serotonin levels have dropped due to decreased carbohydrate intake. Healthy carbohydrate foods to turn to for anti-stress include whole grain breads and crackers, whole grain pasta, rice, cereal, and fruits. 碳水化合物使你得到放松，减轻你的压力 食用碳水化合物可以诱导胰岛素释放到血液，胰岛素能够清除血液中除了色氨酸以外所有的氨基酸。在正常情况下，在通过血脑屏障时，色氨酸往往会被其它的氨基酸“挤出去”，但是这时，当它所有的竞争者都被消除，所有的色氨酸会一齐进入大脑。一旦进入大脑，色氨酸会被转化成血清素。这种血清素是一种神经递质，它有减轻疼痛，降低食欲，镇静的作用，一旦作用剂量较大时，它能促进睡眠。研究表明，节食者们在节食2周容易变得心情低落，因为没有摄入足够的碳水化合物，他们体内的血清素水平降低了。能够减轻压力的健康的碳水化合物包括全麦面包，饼干，全麦意面，大米，谷物和水果。 For the most beneficial effect of either carbohydrate or protein, eat them separately. For example, the energy boosting effect of protein will be offset if you start out a lunch of fish (pure protein) with a roll (mostly carbohydrate). Make the protein the first food that you eat, and then, go lightly on the carbohydrate if it is mental alertness you are after. 想要得到碳水化合物或蛋白质的最好功效，要分开地摄入 举个例子，如果你在一顿饭中既吃了鱼（纯蛋白质）又吃了面包（主要是碳水化合物），蛋白质产生的功效将会被抵消。如果你希望提高保持头脑清醒，先吃鱼，然后再适量地吃面包。 Caffeine can be an effective antidepressant. Despite its bad rap, caffeine can do some good. For mild cases of depression which do not need medical attention, a little caffeine can be an effective antidepressant. It has the added benefit of not needing to increase the dosage daily to get the same effect. Long term epidemiological evidence more than supports the safety of a cup or two of coffee a day. More than that however can begin to have counterproductive effects in some people. 咖啡因能缓解抑郁 尽管咖啡因有些坏处，它仍能发挥一定好的功效。对于轻微的尚不需要药物治疗的抑郁症，少量的咖啡因能有效地缓解抑郁。不需要增加它的剂量即可获得同样的功效。长期的流行病学研究证明每日一到两杯咖啡对人是安全的。但对于一些人而言，超过该剂量咖啡会产生反作用。 Likewise, folic acid is an important counter to depression. Folic acid deficiencies have been linked to depression in clinical studies. Folic acid deficiency causes serotonin levels in the brain to decrease. Psychiatric patients with depression have much higher rates of folic acid deficiency than the general public. As little as 200 micrograms was enough to relieve the depression that amount is easily obtained in a cup of cooked spinach or a glass of orange juice. 类似地，叶酸也是一种很重要的抗抑郁的物质 叶酸缺乏是在临床研究中被发现的。叶酸的缺乏会导致大脑内血清素水平降低，患有抑郁症的精神病人比正常有更高的叶酸缺乏率。0.2mg的叶酸就足以缓解人的抑郁。而仅仅在一盘炒菠菜或是必备橙汁中你就能摄入足够的叶酸。 Lack of selenium can cause bad moods. Individuals suffering from a lack of selenium have been shown to be more anxious, irritable, hostile, and depressed than their non-lacking counterparts. Correcting deficiencies normalizes mood, but getting more does not elevate mood further. It is speculated that selenium may have some unknown neural function, but as of yet, its mode of action is unknown. Be sure to get your daily dose by eating a Brazil nut, or tuna sandwich, sunflower seeds, whole grain cereals, or swordfish. 硒元素的缺乏会使心情变差 缺乏硒元素的人比正常人更显得焦虑，易怒，富有敌意和沮丧。改善硒的缺乏可以让人的情绪变得正常，但是摄入更多的硒元素并不会进一步促使人的心情变得更好。据推测，硒元素有未知的神经功能，然而目前这种功能的作用模式还是未知的。保证每天都有足够的硒摄入量，