The Claim: fish is brain food

结论：鱼肉可健脑

The facts some old bromides----like the one that holds that chocolate causes acne---were just plain wrong.

有些老话其实是大错特错的，比如有说巧克力是导致粉刺的元凶。

But when it comes to one piece of dietary advice that many of us were brought up on, the old wisdom prvails: fish is apparently food for the brain.

但当提到一个我们从小到大总能听说的饮食建议时，这说法却一直流行着，这就是：鱼肉显然是健脑食品。

Like many old wives’ tales about food and eating, how this claim got started is not entirely clear.

像许多家庭主妇关于吃喝的说法一样，这种说法起源也无从知晓。

Some believe that it may have grown out of a theory that humans evolved in coastal areas because certain nutrients in fish, particularly omega----3 fatty acids, were necessary for brain development.

一些人认为这个结论源于这样一个理论，那就是之所以人类是从海边进化而来是因为鱼肉中有Ω-3脂肪酸三这种特殊的营养成分，这对人类大脑是必须的。

But whatever the origin of the claim, multiple studies have provide some evidence to support it. One study this year at Harvard, which looked at 135 mothers and their infants, found that the more fish the mothers ate during their second trimesteers, the better their infants did on tests when they were 6 months old.

不管这结论的起源是什么，诸多研究已提供了一些可证明它的证据。今年哈佛大学通过对135名母亲及其婴儿进行观察研究后发现，在第二个“三月期（人类怀孕期的三个阶段之一）”吃鱼越多的母亲，她们的孩子在6个月大时的测试成绩就越好。

But the researchers urged mothers to stick to canned light tuna or salmon while steering clear of shark, swordfish and other types of fish with high mercury levels.

但研究人员劝戒母亲们仅可吃罐装的沙丁鱼或大马哈鱼，而不要碰鲨鱼、剑鱼这种含汞量高的鱼。

Another recent study, published in December in The Archives of Neurology, looked at adults. It found that elderly people who ate fish at least once a week did better on tests of memory and mental acuity than their peers who did not, and had a 10 percent slower decline in mental skills each year.

另一项近期发表在12月的《神经病学文献》上的调查把目光聚焦在成年人身上。研究发现在老年人群中，那些每星期至少吃一次鱼的比那些不吃的同龄人在记忆力和智力反应灵敏度测试上都要好一些，而且在智力技能方面的衰退速度也要慢10%。

Dr. John A. Boochkvar, an asisstant professor of brain surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, recommended eating fish at least twice a week.

康涅尔大学威尔医学院脑外科助理教授约翰·布驰克瓦建议人们每周至少吃两次鱼。

“Unlless it’s fish that has a lot of mercury, it’s not going to harm you,” Dr. Boockvar said. “And we know it improves brain functioning.”

他说，“只不是含汞量多的鱼就不会对人体有害，我们都知道鱼肉可改善大脑机能。”

The bottom line: fish is good for the brain.

最终结论是：鱼肉可健脑。