我吃了一根頭發(fā)，怎么辦?

Colorful candies or plastic toys are welcome surprises inside a chocolate egg or cereal box, but a strand of hair in our food — not so much.

五顏六色的糖果或塑料玩具在巧克力蛋或麥片盒里是很受歡迎的驚喜，但食物里的一縷頭發(fā)就不那么受歡迎了。

When it comes to food manufacturing and handling in the United States, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has federal regulations in place for protection against hair contamination, such as "wearing, where appropriate, in an effective manner, hair nets, headbands, caps, beard covers, or other effective hair restraints." However, the FDA does acknowledge that, by nature, some "unavoidable defects" will make their way into our food. For this reason, health officials have established maximum levels of contaminants permitted in food that pose no risk to human health.

在美國食品制造和處理方面，美國食品和藥物管理局(FDA)制定了防止頭發(fā)污染的聯(lián)邦法規(guī)，如“在適當(dāng)情況下，以有效方式佩戴發(fā)網(wǎng)、發(fā)帶、帽子、胡須套或其他有效的頭發(fā)約束裝置。”然而，F(xiàn)DA承認，從本質(zhì)上講，一些“不可避免的意外”會進入我們的食品中。出于這個原因，衛(wèi)生官員已經(jīng)確定了食品中允許的對人類健康沒有風(fēng)險的污染物的最高水平。

Believe it or not, one such permitted "defect" is rodent hairs — gasp! But for the time being, let's focus on stray human hairs found in food, and how much of a health threat they may pose.

信不信由你，其中一個允許的“意外”就是嚙齒動物的毛發(fā)——喘口氣!但現(xiàn)在，讓我們把重點放在食物中發(fā)現(xiàn)的散落的人類毛發(fā)上，以及它們可能會對健康造成多大的威脅。

Hair cannot be broken down by the body

頭發(fā)不能被身體分解

Our hair is composed of a densely packed protein known as keratin, Northwestern University dermatologist and hair specialist Maria Colavincenzo explains to Popular Science. As it turns out, keratin is not digestible by the body (via Hair Max). If you're a cat owner, you've seen this demonstrated by your pet regurgitating a hairball. Although hair cannot be broken down by the body, a strand of it that finds a way down your gullet will simply pass through the body without complication.

西北大學(xué)皮膚科醫(yī)生、頭發(fā)專家瑪麗亞·科拉文佐向《大眾科學(xué)》雜志解釋說，我們的頭發(fā)是由一種被稱為角蛋白的密集蛋白質(zhì)組成的。事實證明，角蛋白不能被身體消化。如果你是一只貓的主人，你的寵物反芻一個毛球就可以證明這一點。雖然頭發(fā)不能被身體分解，但一縷頭發(fā)只要順著你的咽喉往下走，就會簡單地穿過身體而不會出現(xiàn)并發(fā)癥。

It's good to know that an accidentally ingested strand of hair doesn't pose any risk of a bowel obstruction. But is it sanitary? Colavincenzo says that it's possible for staph bacteria to show up on human hair, but the amount on a single strand is minuscule. To illustrate just how minuscule, Colavincenzo states that any real risk of gastrointestinal problems would come only from consuming "a whole head's worth" of hair (via Popular Science).

很高興，意外攝入的一縷頭發(fā)不會造成任何腸梗阻的風(fēng)險。但是它衛(wèi)生嗎?Colavincenzo說，葡萄球菌有可能出現(xiàn)在人的頭發(fā)上，但單鏈上的數(shù)量是微乎其微的。為了說明這一點，Colavincenzo指出，任何胃腸道問題的真正風(fēng)險都只來自于食用“一整頭”的頭發(fā)。

So there you have it. While not the most welcome visitor in your salad or soup, the stray hair accidentally swallowed with your food won't send you running to the hospital or your doctor. It poses so little risk, in fact, that Popular Science reports the FDA has no established regulations regarding the permitted number of strands on a plate. It might be a little gross, but you'll survive that errant surprise.

好了。雖然不是沙拉或湯中最受歡迎的客人，但誤食的頭發(fā)不會讓你跑到醫(yī)院或醫(yī)生那里。事實上，它所帶來的風(fēng)險非常小，以至于《大眾科學(xué)》報道說，F(xiàn)DA對于盤子上允許的頭發(fā)數(shù)沒有既定的規(guī)定。這可能有點惡心，但你會挺過那次意外驚喜的。