垃圾食物之所以让我们发胖，是因为垃圾食物卡路里高吗？并不一定哦。真正的原因是什么呢？让我们跟着【读者文摘】的一篇文章，一起探索下发胖的真正原因。
Why does junk food make us fat?
垃圾食品为什么让我们发胖？
Atypical junk food meal contains nearly twice as many calories as a traditional British meal. Whether it’s pasties, pizza or pop, there is no doubt that junk food is on the increase, and so are our waistlines.
非典型的垃圾食品餐含有的卡路里几乎是传统英式餐的两倍。毫无疑问，垃圾食品数量正在增加，无论是馅饼、披萨还是汽水，我们的腰围也在增加。
Are calories the culprit?
卡路里是罪魁祸首吗？
「The fundamental cause of obesity」 the World Health Organisation says, 「is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended.」
世界卫生组织说：「肥胖的根本原因是消耗的卡路里和摄入的卡路里之间的能量不平衡。」
To those who love a slice of cake or occasional hamburger, this is good news, because as long as we use more energy than we take in, no harm will be done. The trouble is we keep coming back for more, until we’ve overdone it.
对于那些喜欢吃片蛋糕或偶尔吃个汉堡包的人来说，这是个好消息，因为只要我们消耗能量多于我们吸收的能量，就不会有伤害。问题是我们不断吃更多，直到我们吃的过多。
Protip: You could always use an air fryer to substitute your unhealthy treats for the low calorie alternative!
专业提示：您可以随时使用空气炸锅，用低热量的替代品替代不健康的饮食！
Take the Mexican diet for example (regularly listed as one of the most obese countries): more than 20% of calories come from junk food in Mexico, with sweet treats such as the ‘Gansito’ snack cake and Coca-Cola being firm favourites.
以墨西哥饮食为例（通常被列为最肥胖的国家之一）：墨西哥超过20%的卡路里来自垃圾食品，「Gansito」零食蛋糕和可口可乐等甜点是最受欢迎的。
In the controversial American film ‘Supersize Me’, Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but junk food and packed in the calories to disastrous effect. While not to the same extremity, we are eating too much junk food and so consuming too many calories.
在备受争议的美国电影【超大尺寸的我】中，摩根·斯普尔洛克只吃垃圾食品，并且是灾难性数量的卡路里食品。虽然不是同一个极端，但我们吃了太多的垃圾食品，吃进去了太多的卡路里。
Professor Hebebrand from Essen University in Germany (‘essen’ rather appropriately means ‘to eat’ in German) suggests that 「the modern ‘obesogenic’ environment is characterised by the ubiquitous availability of palatable, energy-dense and inexpensive foods.」 Junk food is everywhere, it’s cheap and it tastes nice.
德国埃森大学（Essen University ）的Hebebrand教授（「essen」在德语中的意思是「吃」）认为，「现代'致胖'环境的特点是无处不在的、可口的、能量密集的和廉价的食物。垃圾食品无处不在、价格便宜、味道上佳。
In fact, it’s addictive
事实上，是上瘾
Surprising research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse has shown that junk food affects the brain in a similar way to cocaine and heroin: hijacking the dopamine system in the brain that is associated with feelings of reward and pleasure. And that’s why we crave junk food, eating more until we’ve eaten too many calories.
美国国家药物滥用研究所（National Institute on Drug Abuse）一项令人惊讶的研究表明，垃圾食品对大脑的影响与可卡因和海洛因相似：劫持大脑中与奖励和快乐感相关的多巴胺系统。这就是为什么我们渴望垃圾食品，并且吃得很多，直到我们吃了太多卡路里。
Chocoholics really do exist! Food manufacturers know just the right combinations of fat, sugar and salt to maximise the dopamine effect.
巧克力上瘾确实存在！食品制造商知道如何将脂肪、糖和盐进行组合，最大限度地提高多巴胺效应。
Some medicines, such as those for Parkinson’s disease, alter dopamine levels, and dopamine levels fall as we age, affecting appetite. Dopamine really does determine our desire for food.
一些药物，如帕金森病的药物，会改变多巴胺水平，多巴胺水平会随着年龄的增长而下降，影响食欲。多巴胺确实决定了我们对食物的渴望。
Once the brain is hooked, there’s a gut reaction
大脑一旦上瘾，就会有本能反应
Junk food seems to affect the bowels as well as the brain. Junk food significantly affects the bacterial population in our gut: ten days of a junk food diet eliminates over 1,000 of the 3,500 species of gut bacteria.
垃圾食品似乎会影响肠道和大脑。垃圾食品显著影响我们肠道中的细菌种群：连续吃十天的垃圾食品可以消除 3,500 种肠道细菌中的 1,000 多种。
Since gut bacteria are among the first cells to encounter and process our food, and play a crucial role in determining what is absorbed and digested, this ‘bacterial blitzing’ will affect what happens to the food we eat, probably leading to weight gain as more is stored as fat.
由于肠道细菌是最早遇到和处理我们食物的细胞之一，并且在决定吸收和消化的食物方面起着至关重要的作用，这种「细菌闪电战」会影响我们吃的食物，可能会导致体重增加，因为更多的食物被储存为脂肪。
The bacterial make-up of our gut is thought to be determined by our genes as well as our diet and so some people put weight on despite healthy eating. This is being tested in the simply-named British Gut Project.
我们肠道的细菌组成被认为是由我们的基因和饮食决定的，因此有些人尽管饮食健康，但仍会增加体重。这正在英国肠道项目中进行测试。
The leader of this project, Professor Tim Spector, suggests a diet that is as diverse and natural as possible to fight obesity. We might do well to learn from mid-Victorian times, when fruits, oily fish and vegetables were the staple. Herring not hamburgers; chestnuts not chips.
该项目的负责人蒂姆·斯佩克特教授建议尽可能多样化和自然的饮食来对抗肥胖。我们不妨学习维多利亚时代中期的饮食，当时水果、油性鱼和蔬菜是主食。吃鲱鱼而不是汉堡包，吃栗子而不是薯条。
