吃杏仁可以抵抗普通感冒和流感
According to the Daily Telegraph of October 31, a new study has revealed that eating almonds can help the body to fight off viral infections such as the common cold and flu.
據英國《每日電訊報》10月31日報道，一項最新研究發現，吃杏仁可以幫助人體抵抗普通感冒和流感病毒的入侵。
The scientists, who are based at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich and the Policlinico Universitario （University Hospital）in Messina, Italy, said they found almond skins improved the ability of the white blood cells to detect viruses while also increasing the body's ability to prevent viruses from replicating and so spreading inside the body.
來自諾維奇食品研究所和意大利莫西拿大學醫學院的研究人員稱，他們發現食用杏仁皮能提高人體白血細胞的活性和檢測病毒的能力，從而加強人體抵抗病毒的能力，防止病毒在人體內的複製和傳播。
They also said that although more research has to be carried out to determine how much almond should be eaten for an effect to be reached, it is likely that eating almonds regularly could help protect people from becoming infected with viruses in the first place, while it could also help those already infected to fight off their illness.
研究人員還說，儘管仍需進行更多研究來檢測需要食用多少杏仁才能達到抵禦病毒的效果，但平時多吃杏仁確實可以幫助人們在第一時間防止病毒入侵，同時也可以幫助已經感染病毒的病人與疾病做鬥爭。
They tested the immune response to infection by the Herpes Simplex Virus 2, which can cause cold sores and is a notoriously difficult virus to treat due to its ability to evade the immune system by dampening down the body's inflammatory response.
他們檢測出免疫系統能夠對抗由單純皰疹病毒1型引發的傳染病，這種病毒可以產生脣皰疹，是一種很難治療頑固性病毒，它通過抑制人體炎症反應，進而破壞人體免疫系統。
They found that almond skin extracts were effective against even this virus.
他發現杏仁皮裏面的提取物也具備抗病毒效果。
The researchers say they are still to identify exactly what it is in almond skins that cause the antiviral activity, but they believe it could be due to compounds known as polyphones.
研究人員稱他們仍需要確定杏仁皮裏何種成分激發抗病毒活性，但是他們認爲可能是由於多酚類成分使杏仁皮具有抗病毒能力。
