巧克力能補腦？義大利新研究發現巧克力對大腦健康有好處

義大利科學家發現證據表明，每天攝入一定量的可可，作為一種膳食補充劑，能對抗不同型別的認知衰退。

Italian scientists have found evidence that a daily dose of cocoa acts as a dietary supplement to counteract different types of cognitive decline。

早在2017年，研究小組就發現，定期吃可可與改善工作記憶和視覺資訊處理有關，而且對特定人群尤為有效。

Back in 2017， the team found that regularly eating cocoa was linked to improvements in working memory and visual information processing and cocoa could be particularly beneficial for certain people。

可可，是從可可樹上提取的烘乾和發酵後的可可豆，用於製作美味的巧克力點心。大家研究可可已經研究得很透了，試問誰會不想研究它呢？

Cocoa， is the dried and fermented bean from the cocoa tree used to make delicious chocolate treats。 Cocoa has been studied extensively because， well， who wouldn‘t want that job。

這些年來，人們發現可可豆中的一系列天然化學物質具有治療作用。

Over the years， it has been found that a range of naturally occurring chemicals in the cocoa bean have therapeutic effects。

例如，人們發現黑巧克力中的多酚可以促進鎮靜和滿足感，黃烷醇能夠逆轉年齡導致的記憶衰退。

For example， polyphenols in dark chocolate were found to increase calmness and contentedness and flavanols were able to reverse age-related memory decline。

在你以此為藉口暴風吸入人類極限的量的巧克力之前，記住巧克力還含有可可鹼，它是一種有毒的化學物質。雖然有風險，但你得吃85根標準尺寸的巧克力棒才會中毒。

Before you start using this an excuse to scoff as much chocolate as humanly possible， just remember that chocolate also contains theobromine， a toxic chemical。 Though to be at risk of poisoning yourself， you’d have to eat about 85 full sized chocolate bars。

在這項研究中，研究小組查閱了有關可可黃烷醇急性和慢性服用對大腦活動的影響的文獻，更具體地說，如果你長期服用可可黃烷醇會發生什麼。

In the study， the team looked through the literature for effects of acute and chronic administration of cocoa flavanols on brain activity and， more specifically， what happens if you do this over a long period of time。

科學家們發現，有足夠的證據支援主張可可健康的說法，尤其是可可中所含的黃烷醇化合物。

The scientists found that there was enough evidence to support the health claims attributed to cocoa， and， in particular， the flavanol compounds it contains。

他們注意到，食用可可黃烷醇後，工作記憶的表現有所改善，視覺資訊處理也有所改善。效果因受測人口而異。

They noticed enhancements in working memory performance and improved visual information processing after consuming cocoa flavanols。 The benefits varied depending on the demographic being tested。

對老年人來說，長期攝入可可黃烷醇可以提高注意力、心理處理能力、工作記憶和語言流利度，對那些有輕度認知障礙或開始失憶的人最有好處。

For the elderly， it turns out that long term ingestion of cocoa flavanols improved attention， mental processing， working memory and verbal fluency and was most beneficial in those who had mild cognitive impairments or the beginnings of memory loss。