吃垃圾食品會很快破壞你的記憶力和自控力

吃垃圾食品會很快破壞你的記憶力和自控力

Just one week of eating a diet packed full of waffles, burgers, and sugary cereals could turn your brain into a milkshake-like mush (not literally, of course).

僅僅一周的飲食，包括華夫餅、漢堡和含糖谷類食品，就會使你的大腦變成奶昔一樣的糊狀物(當然不是字面上的糊狀物)。

A new study has found that consuming a Western-style diet rich in junk food can subtly yet rapidly impair brain function in your hippocampus. By no coincidence, this is a brain region associated with memory and appetite regulation. Any impairment of this region's function could result in people experiencing a greater desire to eat junk food even if they are full.

一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，食用富含垃圾食品的西式飲食可以微妙而迅速地損害你的海馬體的大腦功能。絕非巧合，這是一個與記憶和食欲調(diào)節(jié)相關的大腦區(qū)域。該區(qū)域功能的任何損傷都可能導致人們更想吃垃圾食品，即使他們已經(jīng)吃飽了。

“Junk food may then act to undermine self-control by increasing desire,” the researchers explained in a press release.

研究人員在一份新聞稿中解釋說:“垃圾食品可能會通過增加欲望來破壞自我控制。”

Tom Hale

“When we see cake, chocolate or crisps, for example, we remember how nice they are to eat. When we are full the hippocampus normally suppresses these memories, reducing our desire to eat,” they added. “We found that lean healthy young people exposed to one week of a junk food diet developed impaired hippocampal function and relatively greater desire to eat junk food when full.”

“例如，當我們看到蛋糕、巧克力或薯片時，我們會記得它們吃起來有多美味。當我們吃飽時，海馬體通常會抑制這些記憶，降低我們的食欲，”他們補充道。“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，瘦削健康的年輕人在一周的垃圾食品飲食后，海馬功能受損，吃飽后想吃垃圾食品的欲望相對更強。”

Reported in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers from Macquarie University and Griffith University in Australia gathered 110 “lean, healthy” people in their twenties. Half simply ate their normal diet for a week, while the other half were fed a so-called “Western-style diet,” including super-sugary cereal, fast-food meals, and Belgian waffles. Before, during, and after the human guinea pigs had eaten these diets, they were all subjected to tests that looked to assess their cognitive skills and everyday memory, as well as a “wanting and liking test” that assessed their cravings and appetite.

據(jù)《皇家學會開放科學》雜志報道，澳大利亞麥考瑞大學和格里菲斯大學的研究人員收集了110名20多歲的“苗條、健康”的人。其中一半的人只吃了一周的正常飲食，而另一半則吃了所謂的“西式飲食”，包括超級甜麥片、快餐和比利時華夫餅。在食用這些食物之前、期間和之后，他們都接受了測試，以評估他們的認知能力和日常記憶，以及一個“想要和喜歡的測試”，以評估他們的渴望和胃口。

The findings showed people on the fatty high-sugar "Western-style diet" had decreased memory and cognitive function just a week after taking up the diet. The specific tests they used pointed towards the hippocampus, which plays a major role in learning and memory, as the possible culprit. The “wanting and liking test” also showed that the people on the Western diet tended to crave more junk food and remained hungry, despite eating a similar number of calories.

研究結果顯示，食用高脂肪、高糖的“西式飲食”的人在開始食用一周后，記憶力和認知功能有所下降。他們使用的具體測試指出，在學習和記憶中起主要作用的海馬體可能是罪魁禍首。“想要和喜歡”的測試還顯示，西方飲食的人傾向于渴望更多的垃圾食品，盡管他們攝入的熱量已相當高。

Promisingly, however, the “wanting and liking” tests were repeated three weeks later after volunteers returned to their regular eating pattern, showing that cravings and hunger levels had returned to normal. This suggests that the effect of the Western diet on appetite control was only short term and could be promptly reversed.

然而，令人鼓舞的是，“想要和喜歡”的測試在志愿者恢復正常飲食模式三周后再次進行，結果顯示他們的渴望和饑餓感水平已經(jīng)恢復正常。這表明，西方飲食對食欲控制的影響只是短期的，可以迅速逆轉(zhuǎn)。

This is far from the first piece of research to see how junk food affects your brain. A study released last month showed how sugar influences the brain in ways similar to those seen if you have an addiction. Even after just 12 days of high sugar intake, the researchers could see major changes in the brain's dopamine and opioid systems – just like an addictive drug.

這遠不是第一個研究垃圾食品如何影響大腦的研究。上個月公布的一項研究表明，糖是如何影響大腦的，其影響方式與上癮時相似。即使只攝入了12天的高糖，研究人員也可以觀察到大腦中多巴胺和阿片系統(tǒng)的主要變化——就像上癮的藥物一樣。