萬萬沒想到! 吃辣椒還能治療腸炎等消化道疾病!
The ingredient that makes hot chilies hot is called capsaicin—and it can set your mouth on fire.
讓辣椒產生辣味的成分叫做辣椒素，它會讓你的嘴巴冒火。
But the spicy compound has a soothing effect too: in your gut, it kicks off a chemical cascade that might calm the immune system and reduce inflammation.
不過這種辛辣的化合物也有舒緩作用：它會在腸道中觸發一種化學級聯反應，這種反應可以穩定免疫系統並減少炎症。
Researchers studied that phenomenon in mice. Once inside the gut, the capsaicin molecules plugged into a specific receptor, spurring the release of another compound, called anandamide.
研究人員在小白鼠身上對這一現象進行了研究。一旦進入腸道，辣椒素分子便會進入一種特殊的受體，促進另一種名爲“大麻素”的化合物的釋放。
Anandamide happens to be an endocannabinoid -- similar to active ingredients in marijuana -- which binds to cannabinoid receptors in the gut.
這是一種內源性大麻素，類似於大麻中的有效成分，它會與腸道中的大麻素受體結合。
That last step in the cascade ramped up the production of cells that damp down inflammation in the mice -- and even cured them of a mouse model of diabetes type 1, an autoimmune disease.
級聯反應的最後一步使小白鼠體內抑制炎症的細胞數量增加，甚至治癒了患有1型糖尿病的小白鼠，1型糖尿病是一種自體免疫性疾病。
If all this sounds a bit similar to the chemical messaging that happens in the brain… that's because it is.
這些聽起來可能有點像大腦中的化學消息傳遞，那是因爲就是這樣。
"The gut has a very large nervous system. It's almost as large as the brain itself," said Pramod Srivastava, an immunologist at UConn Health and one of the study's leaders.
康涅狄格大學健康中心的免疫學家、也是這項研究的負責人之一的普拉莫德·斯里瓦斯塔瓦表示：“腸道擁有一個非常龐大的神經系統。幾乎和大腦的神經系統一樣龐大。”
"We don't quite fully understand what this huge amount of neurons are doing in the gut. We don't understand its language, and the molecules and mediators. And I think with this work we can at least claim to have found a couple of words in that language."
“我們不完全瞭解腸道中的大量神經細胞有何作用。我們不懂神經細胞語言，也不瞭解這些分子和介質。不過我認爲，至少我們通過這項研究發現了這種語言的幾個單詞。”
So to recap that chemical chain: chilies cause the production of endocannabinoids, which produce immune suppressant cells, which soothe inflammation. So, what if you cut out the chili initiator, and just eat cannabinoids—pot brownies, stuff like that?
現在來回顧一下這個化學反應鏈：辣椒催生內源性大麻素，內源性大麻素產生免疫抑制細胞，這種細胞緩解炎症。那麼，如果去掉辣椒這個引發劑，直接獲取大麻素，比如吃大麻布朗尼之類的東西，會怎樣呢？
"Obviously we are very interested in people who use edible cannabinoids. I'm extremely curious if people with colitis or Crohn's disease, who are edible pot users, do they benefit from it? I have no idea. But it's something we can now find out because sizable numbers of people are consuming those edibles."
“顯然，我們對攝取可食用大麻素的人非常感興趣。我非常好奇的是，如果患有結腸炎或克羅恩病的人食用大麻，能緩解病症嗎？我並不知道答案。不過因爲現在有相當多的人在服用可食用大麻，所以我們可以找出答案。”
