吃这个对身体好，只要你愿意吃

如果你想要一个健康的肠子，蟋蟀应该是你菜单上最好的东西。一项随机双盲临床交叉试验发现，咀嚼富含蛋白质的昆虫会增加肠道益生菌数量，并且可以减少体内的炎症。

Many people feel totally squicked out by the idea of eating bugs, but a growing body of research suggests that it's the way of the future.

许多人被吃虫子的想法给弄糊涂了，但是越来越多的研究表明这是未来的一条明路。

Global population continues to rise, and raising livestock is extremely hard on the environment, using tremendous land and water resources, and releasing vast amounts of methane into the atmosphere.

随着全球人口不断增加，饲养牲畜对环境极其不利：它们利用巨大的土地资源和水资源，并释出放大量的甲烷进入大气。

We know insects are a viable food source for humans, because, according to estimates at least, they make up part of the diet of at least 2 billion people around the world.

我们知道昆虫对人类来说是一种可行的食物来源，因为据估计，它们出现在了全世界至少20亿人的菜单上。

And research suggests that our bodies are actually really good at digesting them - not to mention they are nutritionally rich, packed with protein, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats.

研究表明，我们的身体实际上很擅长消化它们，更不用说它们富含营养，富含蛋白质、维生素、矿物质和健康脂肪。

"There is a lot of interest right now in edible insects," said nutritional scientist Valerie Stull of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies."It's gaining traction in Europe and in the US as a sustainable, environmentally friendly protein source compared to traditional livestock."

威斯康星大学的麦迪逊-纳尔逊环境研究所(the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies)的营养学家Valerie Stull说：“关于食用昆虫有很多有趣的地方。与传统家畜相比，它在欧洲和美国作为可持续、环境友好的蛋白质来源正在得到推广。”

But insects also contain fibre, such as chitinous fibre in their exoskeletons, that is different from the dietary fibre in fruits, vegetables and grains.

其实昆虫也含有纤维，如外骨骼中的几丁质纤维，这不同于水果、蔬菜和谷物中的膳食纤维。

Since dietary fibre promotes the growth of "good" bacteria, or probiotics, in the gut, what does insect fibre do to our microbiome, the complex and mysterious symbiotic microbes that live inside us? That's what Stull and her team set out to discover.

既然膳食纤维能够促进肠道内的益生菌的生长，那么昆虫纤维对我们体内的微生物群有什么作用?这就是Stull和她的团队想要研究的。

They recruited 20 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 48. For two weeks, half of this group ate for breakfast a muffin or a shake including 25 grams of powdered crickets, while the other half ate the muffin or shake without crickets.

他们招募了20名年龄在18岁到48岁之间的健康成年人。这些人的一半早餐吃松饼或点心(含有25克蟋蟀粉)，而另一半吃的早餐则没有蟋蟀，这样持续两周。

This was followed by a two-week period of normal, cricket-free eating to "reset" the body, and then the two groups switched. Neither the study participants, nor the researchers, knew which group was eating the crickets.

接下来的两周则一切正常，不吃蟋蟀粉，以“重置”身体，然后两组的早餐互换。志愿者和研究者都不知道哪一组人在吃蟋蟀。

During the testing period, blood and stool samples were taken from the participants, and gastrointestinal questionnaires were filled out both prior to the clinical trial, and after each two-week cricket-eating period.

在试验期间，从参与者中抽取血液和粪便样品，并让他们在试验前和吃了两周蟋蟀粉后填写有关胃肠问卷。

The blood was tested for a variety of health measures to assess liver function, as well as an enzyme associated with inflammation, and the stool was tested for changes in the microbiota, and inflammatory chemicals in the gastrointestinal tract.

血检测试了各种健康指标，以评估肝功能，以及与炎症相关的酶，粪便检测测试了胃肠道中的微生物的变化，以及炎症相关的化学物质。

None of the participants reported feeling any different on their questionnaires, and the researchers found no overall changes or side effects in either the gastrointestinal tract or overall microbial composition.

没有一个参与者在问卷报告他们有变化，研究人员没有发现胃肠道或总体微生物组成出现任何整体上的变化或者副作用。

What they did find was an increase in a metabolic enzyme associated with gut health, and a drop in an inflammatory protein in blood plasma called TNF-alpha, which has been implicated in a range of ailments including cancer, major depression, Alzheimer's disease, and inflammatory bowel disease.

他们发现的是与肠道健康相关的代谢酶增加，血浆中与炎症相关的、被称为TNF-α的蛋白质下降，这些与包括癌症、抑郁症、阿尔茨海默病和炎症性肠病在内的一系列疾病有关。

They also found a significant rise in a bacterium called Bifidobacterium animalis - on average, it increased 5.7-fold on a diet that included cricket flour. This bacterium is one of the good guys, having been implicated in a range of health benefits, including an increased immune response, and better gastrointestinal health and comfort.

他们还发现一种叫做“双歧杆菌”的细菌显著增加，在吃了蟋蟀粉的分组中增加了5.7倍。这种细菌对人非常友好，能够给人带来一系列的益处，包括增加的免疫应答，以及更健康舒适的胃肠道。

Of course it's important to remember that the study is a small one, and further, larger studies will need to be undertaken to see if the results can be replicated. But it's looking pretty positive - and represents yet another potential benefit to eating bugs, among the many already posed.

当然，这项研究只是很小的一部分，更多的研究需要进行，以确认这个结果是否可以复制。但这个结果在许多已有的结论中看起来仍然很令人感到乐观，而且它说明吃虫子可能还有很多潜在的好处。

"This very small study shows that this is something worth looking at in the future when promoting insects as a sustainable food source," Stull said.

Stull说：“这项非常小的研究表明，昆虫作为一种可持续的食物来源很令人期待。”

Meanwhile, if you want to hoe into some fried locusts - and if you can find some - have at it!

同时，如果你想品尝一些油炸蝗虫(如果你能弄到的话)，那就吃吧!

The team's research has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

该小组的研究已经发表在《科学报告》杂志上。