Carbohydrates sound so innocent: mere starches, sugar and fiber that the body uses for energy. Yet health-conscious Americans despise them, designing entire diets just to cut them out. But out of the pile of cast-off carbs, there are some you should keep. New research around a certain kind of carb, called "resistant starch," suggests that they could be a key way to help control weight.
宣传语中的碳水化合物何其无辜的:只是为身体补充能量的淀粉、糖和纤维。但是,注重健康的美国人却对碳水化合物持鄙视态度,杜绝摄入碳水化合物。但在一堆被摒弃的碳水化合物中,这些种类还是值得继续享用的。关于某种碳水化合物(称为"抗性淀粉")的新研究表明:它们或许是控制体重的关键。
When we eat refined carbohydrates, like white bread and cookies, our bodies absorb them very quickly, and the hormone insulin ushers them into our cells. Eat a lot of them, and the body will store most of those calories instead of burning them-which is why we gain weight on high-carb diets.
摄入精制碳水化合物的时候,比如白面包和饼干,我们的身体能快速吸收。此外,胰岛素会带领此类碳水化合物进入人体细胞。摄入大量精制碳水化合物时,身体会存储而非燃烧大部分的热量--所以,高碳水化合物饮食会导致体重增加。
But that's not the case with resistant starches, so named because they resist digestion. These kinds of carbs bypass the small intestine (where most food is digested) and head to the large intestine (also known as the colon) to be metabolized. There, they're fermented and turned into short-chain fatty acids, which the body burns as energy. Resistant starches also serve as powerful prebiotics-food for intestinal bacteria in the colon.
但这并不适用于抗性淀粉,其命名缘由是因为它们能抗消化。这类碳水化合物会绕过小肠(能消化大多数食物),直奔大肠(也称为结肠)进行代谢。它们在大肠中发酵并转变为短链脂肪酸,从而被身体燃烧。抗性淀粉还可充当结肠中肠道细菌的强效益生元食物。
Most intriguing and surprising of all is that so many leftovers contain resistant starch. When you cook a certain starchy food, like white rice, pasta or a potato, and then cool it in the refrigerator, the food develops resistant starches. "Cooking the carbohydrate starch alters the chemical bonds in the food," Arciero explains. Stick it in the fridge, and as the food cools, those bonds reform in a new design. "The ensuing structure of those bonds during the cooling process is what makes them resistant to then being digested in the small intestine," Arciero says. Even if you heat them up again, they retain their new resistant starches.
最引人入胜的惊奇之处在于,很多剩菜都含有抗性淀粉。烹饪淀粉类食物之后,比如白米饭、意大利面或土豆,将其置于冰箱冷却。之后,它们就会变为抗性淀粉食物。"烹饪碳水化合物淀粉会改变食物中的化学链,"阿尔切罗解释道。将其置于冰箱内,随着食物的冷却,这些化学链会发生重组。"冷却过程中发生的化学链结构的变化使其具有抵抗性,不会在小肠中被消化,"阿尔切罗说道。即使再次加热,这些食物也会保留新产生的抗性淀粉。
In all of its forms, resistant starch shows promise for helping people control their weight. It's too soon to tell if resistant starch can help people lose weight. But the new evidence suggests that it may help control weight by altering body composition and increasing satiety.
各类抗性淀粉食物都有望帮助人们控制体重。虽然现在就得出抗性淀粉有助于人们减肥的结论还为时尚早,但新证据表明:它或能通过改变机体组分和增加饱腹感来控制体重。
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