時差N小時:食物與情緒

When we think about a pill that helps an overweightperson take off the pounds, we usually think of anappetite suppressant. But suppressing yourappetite will only help you lose weight if the reasonyou eat is because you are hungry. Some people eatbecause they are depressed rather than becausethey're hungry. When these people want to loseweight, doctors may prescribe, not traditional dietpills, but antidepressants.

談到一種能幫助超重者減肥的藥物，我們通常會想起食欲抑制劑。你會因?yàn)轲囸I而吃飯，只有在這時抑制食欲才能幫你減輕體重。有些人吃東西是因?yàn)樗麄兓加幸钟舭Y，而不是因?yàn)樗麄兏械金囸I。當(dāng)這些人想要減肥時，醫(yī)生會為他們開抗抑郁藥，而不是傳統(tǒng)的減肥藥。

These antidepressants have helped many overweight people stop craving high-caloriecarbohydrates. Depressed people often crave carbohydrates because eating carbohydrate-richfood lifts their mood. As a side effect, they gain weight. Though scientists are not exactly surehow carbohydrate intake influences mood, they do know that it has to do with the chemicalmessengers, called neurotransmitters, that allow two areas of the brain to communicate: thearea responsible for appetite and the area responsible for mood.

這些抗抑郁藥能夠幫助超重者抵制貪吃高熱量碳水化合物的行為。患有抑郁癥的人往往會貪吃糖類食物，因?yàn)楹橇扛叩氖澄锟梢蕴嵘麄兊那榫w。但副作用會導(dǎo)致體重上升。盡管科學(xué)家們不清楚攝入碳水化合物會如何影響情緒，不過可以肯定這與一種叫做“神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)”的化學(xué)信使有關(guān)，這種物質(zhì)能夠在大腦負(fù)責(zé)食欲和負(fù)責(zé)情緒的區(qū)域之間傳遞信息。

More specifically, an intake of carbohydrates increases the levels of the neurotransmitterresponsible for mood, called serotonin. Though only a small percentage of the brain'sneurotransmitters are made up of serotonin, if this small amount is even minutely tinkeredwith, a patient can experience fairly drastic mood shifts.

更具體地說，攝入碳水化合物會使大腦中負(fù)責(zé)情緒的神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)——血清素的含量增多。雖然大腦中只有一小部分的神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)是由血清素組成，但如果血清素每分鐘都得到少量補(bǔ)充，病人還是會感受到劇烈的情緒變化。

A patient taking antidepressants may stop craving carbohydrates because these drugsfunction like carbohydrates. They alter the serotonin that communicates messages betweenthe mood and appetite centers of the brain. Once an antidepressant drug begins to work, theabnormal craving for carbohydrates is interrupted and the patient can start losing weight.

服用抗抑郁藥物的病人可能不會再貪食，因?yàn)檫@些藥物的功能和碳水化合物一樣。它們能控制血清素的變化，從而影響大腦中負(fù)責(zé)情緒和食欲區(qū)域之間的信息傳遞。一旦抗抑郁藥物開始起作用，就會切斷病人對糖類食物的異常渴望，于是就開始減肥。