ALICE CALLAHAN

It sounds like just another internet health hack: Cook some pasta or white rice and let it cool overnight in the refrigerator. By the next day, some of the natural starches in the food will have transformed into healthier versions, called resistant starches, which have been linked to a range of health benefits including lower blood sugar, better gut health and a reduced risk of certain types of cancer.
这听上去不过是又一个网上的养生小花招：做些意大利面或白米饭，放冰箱冷藏一晚。到了第二天，食物中的天然淀粉会转化成某种更健康的抗性淀粉，可以带来各种健康益处，包括降低血糖、改善肠胃健康、降低某些类型的癌症的风险。

The idea that you could change the health properties of a food by merely cooking and cooling it may sound too good to be true. But according to experts like Balazs Bajka, a gut physiologist at King’s College London, there’s something to it.
一种食物仅通过烹制和冷却就能改变健康属性，听起来美好得不像真的。不过在伦敦国王学院肠胃生理学家巴拉兹·拜卡这样的专家看来，这说法还是有一定道理的。

Cooling starchy foods can cause some changes to their structure that may benefit your health, Dr. Bajka said. Here’s what we know.
含淀粉的食物经过冷却会产生可能有益健康的结构变化，拜卡说。以下是我们知道的。

What is resistant starch?
什么是抗性淀粉？

Resistant starch is a type of fiber that is naturally present in many types of plant foods, such as whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, green bananas and plantains. But it can also be increased in other foods that mainly contain regular starch, like rice, pasta and potatoes, after they are cooked and then cooled.
抗性淀粉是一种天然存在于某些植物性食物里的纤维，例如全谷、豆类、坚果、种籽、绿香蕉和大蕉。不过在以普通淀粉为主的食物里，抗性淀粉含量也可能在烹制并冷却后增加，比如大米、面食和土豆。

Cooking and cooling causes the food’s starch molecules to become tightly packed together, making them more difficult to digest, Dr. Bajka said. When this happens, the starch becomes “resistant,” meaning its sugar molecules aren’t as easily broken apart and absorbed into your bloodstream as they normally would be.
拜卡说，烹制并冷却会导致食物中的淀粉分子变得更紧密，更难消化。这就意味着淀粉有了“抗性”，也就是它的糖分子不像往常那么容易分解并吸收到你的血流中。

What are the health benefits of resistant starch?
抗性淀粉的健康益处有哪些？

Because resistant starches aren’t easily digested, they don’t spike your blood sugar as much as regular starch does, said Kimberley Rose-Francis, a dietitian in Florida who specializes in working with patients with diabetes.
佛罗里达膳食学家、专门从事糖尿病人照护的金伯利·罗斯-弗朗西斯说，由于不易消化，抗性淀粉不会像普通淀粉那样导致你的血糖急升。

Instead, the resistant starch continues on in your intestines, where it can feed the good microbes in your gut, Dr. Bajka said. This helps them flourish and make beneficial molecules that have been linked with lower cholesterol and inflammation and better gut health in general.
它会留在你的肠道里，成为有益微生物的食物，拜卡说。这有助于滋养这些微生物，从而产生与减少胆固醇和炎症、改善肠胃总体健康有关联的有益分子。

There’s also some evidence that resistant starches may play a role in reducing the risk of certain types of cancer, said Annette M. Goldberg, a dietitian at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, though more research is needed.
波士顿丹娜法伯癌症研究所膳食学家安妮特·M·戈德伯格说，此外还有证据表明，抗性淀粉可能有助于降低某些类型的癌症的风险，不过这方面还需要进一步的研究。

In one recent trial of more than 900 people with Lynch Syndrome, a genetic condition that increases the risk of developing various types of cancer, researchers split the participants into two groups: one that took 30 grams of a resistant starch supplement each day for up to four years, and another that took a placebo.
最近有一项针对超过900名林奇综合征患者的试验——这是一种会导致多种癌症风险增加的遗传病，研究人员将受试者分为两组：一组每天服用30克抗性淀粉补剂，最久的持续了四年，另一组服用安慰剂。

Up to 20 years later, the researchers found that while there was no change in the participants’ risk of colorectal cancer, those who took the resistant starch supplements were half as likely as those who took the placebo to develop other types of cancers, especially those of the upper gastrointestinal tract, such as in the stomach or pancreas. (The supplements used in the trial were provided by a company that makes starch ingredients, but the company was not involved with the study’s design or analysis.)
20年后，研究人员发现，受试者的结肠直肠癌风险没有变化，不过服用抗性淀粉补剂的受试者罹患其它类型癌症的几率是安慰剂组的一半，尤其是在胃或胰腺等上肠胃道器官。（试验中使用的补剂是一家生产淀粉食材的公司提供的，不过该公司没有参与研究的设计或分析。）

When you cook and cool a starchy food, you’re also effectively increasing its fiber content, said Mindy Patterson, an associate professor of nutrition and food sciences at Texas Woman’s University.
通过烹制并冷却淀粉食物，你实际上是在增加它的纤维含量，得克萨斯女子大学营养和食物科学副教授敏迪·派特森说。

Fiber has been linked to a host of health benefits including a reduced risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer. And when consumed as resistant starch, it seems less likely than other forms of fiber to cause unpleasant effects like gas or bloating, Dr. Patterson said.
纤维和许多健康益处有关联，包括降低心脏病、2型糖尿病和某些癌症的风险。派特森说，以抗性淀粉的形式摄入似乎不像其它形式的纤维那么容易导致胀气或腹胀等不适。

The bottom line
总而言之

Most people will benefit from consuming more fiber, whether it’s in the form of resistant starch or not, Dr. Patterson said.
摄入更多纤维对大多数人是有好处的，无论是不是以抗性淀粉的形式，派特森说。

Good sources of fiber include whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes. And aside from eating foods that naturally contain resistant starch, like beans, barley, green bananas and oats, you can increase the levels of resistant starch in foods like pasta, potatoes and rice by cooking and cooling them, Dr. Patterson said.
好的纤维来源包括全谷、水果、蔬菜和豆类。除了食用含有天然抗性淀粉的食物，比如豆子、大麦、绿香蕉和燕麦，派特森说你还可以通过烹制并冷却面食、土豆和大米等食物，来增加其抗性淀粉水平。

This technique may be especially useful for those with Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, she said.
这个方法对2型糖尿病或糖尿病前期人士格外有用，她说。

Ms. Rose-Francis encourages many of her clients with diabetes to experiment with cooking and cooling methods with rice, pasta or potatoes to see if that makes a difference in their blood sugar levels.
罗斯-弗朗西斯鼓励她的许多患糖尿病的客户尝试用烹制并冷却的方法处理大米、面食或土豆，看看会不会给他们的血糖水平带来变化。

For them, this can be a powerful technique, she said — since many people with diabetes avoid eating starchy foods over fears that they might spike their blood sugar too high. This may explain why one of her TikTok videos on the topic has been viewed 1.3 million times. “It gives people hope,” she said.
她说这对他们可能是一种非常有力的方法——因为很多糖尿病患者因为担心可能导致血糖升高，会避免吃某些淀粉类食物。这可能解释了她的某条讨论该问题的TikTok短视频为什么会有130万次的观看量。“这给人带来了希望，”她说。

翻译：杜然