我們在晚餐后進入“食物昏迷”狀態(tài)可能有一個很好的理由

我們在晚餐后進入“食物昏迷”狀態(tài)可能有一個很好的理由

Ever feel a bit sluggish after a big meal?

你是否曾經(jīng)在一頓大餐后感到有點懶洋洋的?

Animals of all shapes and sizes tend to nap after a large meal. (Photo: nikitabuida/Shutterstock)

Maybe even a little sea sluggish? (Okay, that's stretching it. Sea slugs probably don't celebrate Thanksgiving — American, Canadian or otherwise.)

也許甚至有點海洋遲緩?(好吧，這太夸張了。海參可能不慶祝感恩節(jié)——不管是美國的、加拿大的還是其他地方的。)

But they may, surprisingly, have a lot to tell us about that peculiar condition we know as a "food coma" — you know when you really gorge and then claim that you can't do dishes because you're incapable of movement and just need to close your eyes for a moment?

但是，令人驚訝的是，他們可能有很多關(guān)于我們所知道的“食物昏迷”的特殊情況要告訴我們——你知道當(dāng)你真的狼吞虎咽，然后聲稱你不能洗碗，因為你不能運動，只是需要閉上眼睛一會兒嗎?

According to a study published this week in the journal Scientific Reports, sea slugs fall into a kind of food coma, too. And rather than making them completely useless, this food coma serves an important biological function.

根據(jù)本周發(fā)表在《科學(xué)報告》雜志上的一項研究，海蛞蝓也會陷入一種食物昏迷狀態(tài)。這種食物昏迷并不是完全無用的，而是具有重要的生物學(xué)功能。

"The sensation of a 'food coma' after a hearty meal is well known to anyone who has ever experienced a Thanksgiving dinner," senior author Thomas Carew of New York University's Center for Neural Science notes in a release. "In fact, most animals tend to slow down and rest after a large intake of calories, suggesting that there is a biological function to this reaction."

紐約大學(xué)神經(jīng)科學(xué)中心的資深作者托馬斯·卡魯在一份新聞稿中寫道:“每一個吃過感恩節(jié)大餐的人都知道，大餐之后會有‘食物昏迷’的感覺。”“事實上，大多數(shù)動物在攝入大量卡路里后都會放慢速度并休息，這表明這種反應(yīng)具有生物學(xué)功能。”

"Our new study proposes that such 'rest-and-digest' responses to feeding may have been shaped by evolution to promote the formation of long-term memories."

“我們的新研究表明，這種對進食的‘休息和消化’反應(yīng)可能是進化形成的，以促進長期記憶的形成。”

Specifically, researchers looked at the California sea hare, also known as Aplysia californica. The team noted that after having their fill of seaweed, the creature would slow down and become, well, extra sluggish.

具體來說，研究人員觀察了加利福尼亞海兔，也被稱為加利福尼亞兔。研究小組注意到，在吃飽海草后，這種生物會放慢速度，變得特別遲鈍。

Sound familiar? In humans, a food coma often follows a big meal. As our bodies labor to digest it, blood is rerouted from the rest of the body to work overtime in the stomach and gut. That rush of blood to the digestive end of the body can leave people feeling weak. Some people may even nod off — embarrassingly — at the Thanksgiving table while Uncle Ned is telling one of his always-riveting tales from back in the day.

聽起來是不是很熟悉?對于人類來說，一頓大餐之后通常會出現(xiàn)食物昏迷。當(dāng)我們的身體努力消化它的時候，血液從身體的其他部分被重新輸送到胃和內(nèi)臟。血液涌入人體的消化系統(tǒng)會讓人感到虛弱。有些人甚至?xí)诟卸鞴?jié)餐桌上尷尬地點頭，而內(nèi)德叔叔則講述著他那時候一直引人入勝的故事。

It's important to keep in mind that a food coma isn't caused strictly by how much you cram into your belly — but also the quality and combinations in that food.

重要的是要記住，食物昏迷并不是由你往肚子里塞了多少食物引起的，而是由食物的質(zhì)量和組合引起的。

The California sea hare noticeably reduces its movements after a big meal. (Photo: Elliotte Rusty Harold/Shutterstock)

Now, let's get back to those sea slugs. Thanks to their oversized neurons and relatively simple physical structure, the researchers could get a glimpse of what was happening when they fell into a food coma.

現(xiàn)在，讓我們回到那些海蛞蝓。多虧了它們超大的神經(jīng)元和相對簡單的物理結(jié)構(gòu)，研究人員得以一窺它們陷入食物昏迷時的情況。

"In humans, food intake promotes the release of the hormone insulin, which prompts the cells of the body to absorb nutrients from the bloodstream and turn them into fat for long-term storage," notes Nikolay Kukushkin, a postdoctoral student who worked on the study.

從事這項研究的博士后學(xué)生尼古拉·庫庫什金(Nikolay Kukushkin)指出:“在人類中，食物的攝入促進了荷爾蒙胰島素的釋放，促使身體細胞從血液中吸收營養(yǎng)，并將其轉(zhuǎn)化為脂肪進行長期儲存。”

"However, insulin is thought to have little effect on the brain. By contrast, a related hormone, insulin-like growth factor II, has been shown to be critical for proper brain function, including long-term memory formation. However, its release does not depend on calorie intake."

“然而，胰島素被認(rèn)為對大腦幾乎沒有影響。相比之下，一種相關(guān)的激素，胰島素樣生長因子II，已被證明對正常的大腦功能，包括長期記憶的形成至關(guān)重要。然而，它的釋放并不依賴于卡路里的攝入。”

Essentially, the human body makes use of two types of insulin. One is tied to calorie intake, helping us pack away food's energy. The other — insulin-like growth factor II, or IGF2 — arises independently of digestion and bolsters the brain.

本質(zhì)上，人體利用兩種類型的胰島素。一種與卡路里攝入有關(guān)，幫助我們儲存食物中的能量。另一種——胰島素樣生長因子II，或IGF2——獨立于消化系統(tǒng)產(chǎn)生，并支持大腦。

In fact, IGF2 is known to fortify contacts between neurons and lock long-term memories into place.

事實上，已知IGF2可以加強神經(jīng)元之間的聯(lián)系，并鎖定長期記憶。

Sea slugs produce both insulin and IGF2 at the same time. Their bellies grow, along with their brains.

海蛞蝓同時產(chǎn)生胰島素和IGF2。他們的肚子變大了，腦子也變大了。

"Thus, Aplysia's 'food coma' is controlled by their insulin-like system, which acts by redistributing the animal's energy away from active behavior and towards storage of both nutrients and memory," Carew explains.

卡魯解釋說:“因此，兔兔的‘食物昏迷’是由它們的胰島素樣系統(tǒng)控制的，該系統(tǒng)通過重新分配動物的能量，使其遠離活躍的行為，轉(zhuǎn)而儲存營養(yǎng)和記憶。”

The insulin system in humans, on the other hand, isn't unified, but rather pumps each protein out at different times. It's possible though that they interact with each other much like those in a sea slug. We may have even once shared the sea slug's all-in-one system.

另一方面，人類的胰島素系統(tǒng)不是統(tǒng)一的，而是在不同的時間將每種蛋白質(zhì)抽出來。不過它們之間的相互作用可能很像海蛞蝓。我們甚至可能曾經(jīng)共享過海蛞蝓的一體化系統(tǒng)。

"It remains to be established whether the human 'food coma' is a vestige of our evolutionary past, or still an important part of memory formation," Kukushkin says.

庫庫什金說:“人類的‘食物昏迷’是我們進化歷史的遺跡，還是記憶形成的重要組成部分，這一點仍有待證實。”

'I'm listening. Just resting my eyes and neck.' (Photo: And-One/Shutterstock)

We know that for many animals, humans included, sleep is crucial for locking in memories of what we experienced during the day.

我們知道，對包括人類在內(nèi)的許多動物來說，睡眠對于鎖定白天經(jīng)歷的記憶至關(guān)重要。

"Perhaps the drowsiness experienced after a meal is a similar way to preserve a memory about that meal, so as to come back to it in the future," says Carew. "Whether seaweed or Thanksgiving turkey, a good dinner is always worth revisiting."

卡魯說:“也許飯后的睡意是一種類似的方式來保存關(guān)于那頓飯的記憶，以便將來能回憶起來。”“無論是海帶還是感恩節(jié)火雞，一頓豐盛的晚餐總是值得回味的。”

Maybe a food coma is our way of remembering Auntie Sue's delicious holiday feast — in addition to being a way to get out of dish duty.

也許“食物昏迷”是我們懷念蘇阿姨的美味節(jié)日大餐的一種方式——除了作為一種逃避洗碗義務(wù)的方式。