Cocoa and Blood Flow.doc

Cocoa and Blood Flow 可可有助于降低心血管患病率 There’s nothing like a cup of hot cocoa on a blustery day. 大风的日子里没有什么比得上一杯热可可饮料。 According to one study, some kinds of cocoa could not only taste good, but be good for you, too. 一项研究表明，某些可可味道好，对身体很有益。 Evidence suggests that flavanol found in cocoa can actually reverse arterial damage, increase blood flow to the brain, and lower your chances for cardiovascular disease（2） 相关证据表明可可中含有的黄烷醇可以逆转动脉损伤，增加至大脑的血流量，并且降低患心血管疾病的可能性。 Cocoa contains chemical compounds called flavanols. Scientists think that flavanols boost（3） the level of nitric oxide in the blood, which makes arteries(4) more flexible. The more flexible an artery, the better able it is to expand as it fills with blood and contract as it pushes blood farther down the line. 可可中包含一种被称为黄烷醇的化学成分。科学家认为黄烷醇可以增加血液中的一氧化氮的含量，让动脉更加的灵活。动脉越灵活，就能够在血液供给和推动血液流动的时候更好的扩张和收缩。 Some compelling(5) evidence for the arterial benefits of flavanols comes from the San Blas islands near Panama. The Kuna Indians who live there drink a kind of cocoa high in flavanols. Kuna who live on mainland Panama, though, don’t drink the cocoa. Researchers found that the island-dwelling Kuna have much lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer than the mainland dwellers. 黄烷醇对动脉有益的有力证据来自于巴拿马附近的圣巴拉斯岛。生活在那里的库那族印第安人饮用一种黄烷醇含量很高的可可饮料。但是生活在巴拿马主岛的库那族居民并不喝可可饮料。研究人员发现居住在岛上的库那族居民患心血管疾病的概率比居住在陆地的居民低。 This doesn’t mean that flavanols are the only reason why island-dwelling Kuna tend to be healthier, but researchers think it’s an important part of the mix. Add in several other studies showing the benefits of flavanols for blood flow, and they begin to seem pretty attractive. One study showed that flavanols can reverse arterial damage caused by smoking. Another found that when study participants over 50 drank flavanol-rich cocoa for several weeks, blood flow to their brains increased significantly. 这并不意味着黄烷醇是库那居民更健康的唯一原因，但是研究人员认为他是众多因素之中很重要的一个。加上其它一些表明黄烷醇有益于血液流动的研究，黄烷醇就变得相当的吸引人。一项研究表明，黄烷醇可以扭转由吸烟造成的动脉损伤。另外一项研究发现，50个研究对象在饮用黄烷