工作和生活重压山大，让不少人出现了抑郁症状。最新研究表明，吃黑巧克力可能能将患抑郁症的风险减少四分之三，这真是各位巧克力喜好者们的福音。
It is food news guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
这则食品新闻一定会叫你喜笑颜开。
Scientists have found that eating dark chocolate appears to lower the risk of depression by four fold.
科学家发现，吃黑巧克力或能将患抑郁症的风险减少四分之三。
While 7.6 percent of the 13,000 people surveyed reported depressive symptoms, just 1.5 percent of the chocolate eaters did.
在同意调查的1.3万人中，曾出现抑郁症状的人比率为7.6%，而仅有1.5%的吃巧克力的人曾出现抑郁症状。
The study by University College London , the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services Canada, also found that the people who consumed the most of any chocolate were also 57 percent less likely to report depressive symptoms.
英国伦敦大学学院、加拿大卡尔加里大学和阿尔伯塔省卫生服务局拓展的这项调查还发现，食用任何类型巧克力最多的人出现抑郁症状的可能性比别的人要低57%。
Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson, of UCL’s Institute of Epidemiology Health Care, said: “This study provides some evidence that consumption of chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, may be associated with reduced odds of clinically relevant depressive symptoms.
该研究首席作者、伦敦大学学院时尚病学与医疗保健研究所的莎拉·杰克逊博士说：“这项研究提供了一些证据以证明吃巧克力——特别是黑巧克力——可能与减少临床有关抑郁症状的几率有关。”
“Should a causal relationship demonstrating a protective effect of chocolate consumption on depressive symptoms be established, the biological mechanism needs to be understood to determine the type and amount of chocolate consumption for optimal depression prevention and management.”
他说：“一旦打造起证明吃巧克力对抑郁症状具备防护用途的因果关系，大家就需要了解其生物机制，以确定巧克力的类型和数目，从而得出预防和治疗抑郁症的最好策略。”
causal relationship：因果关系
The study is the first to examine the association with depression according to the type of chocolate consumed.
这是首个依据所吃巧克力的类型来研究与抑郁症关系的研究。
The team assessed data from 13,626 adults from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
研究小组评估了来自美国全国健康和营养调查中13626名成年人的数据。
A range of other factors including height, weight, marital status, ethnicity, education, household income, physical activity, smoking and chronic health problems were also taken into account to ensure the study only measured chocolate’s effect on depressive symptoms.
研究职员还考虑了身高、体重、婚姻情况、种族、教育程度、家庭收入、体育活动、抽烟和慢性健康问题等其他多种原因，以确保这项研究只衡量巧克力对抑郁症状的影响。
After adjusting for these factors, it was found that individuals who reported eating any dark chocolate in two 24-hour periods had 70 percent lower odds of reporting clinically relevant depressive symptoms in the previous two weeks than those who reported not eating chocolate at all.
依据上述原因调整之后，研究发现，与不吃巧克力的人相比，任意两天内吃过黑巧克力的人在此前两周出现临床有关抑郁症状的几率要低70%。
Most recent figures show that around 19.7 percent of people in Britain aged 16 and over showed symptoms of anxiety or depression.
最新数据显示，英国16岁及以上人群中，大约19.7%的人曾出现焦虑或抑郁症状。
Chocolate contains a number of psychoactive ingredients which produce a feeling of euphoria similar to that of cannabinoid, found in cannabis.
巧克力含有不少精神活性成分，这类成分可产生像大麻中的大麻素带来的开心感。
euphoria [juːfɔːrɪə]：n.（常指较短期的）极度开心，情绪高涨
It also contains phenylethylamine, a neuromodulator which is believed to be important for regulating people’s moods.
它还含有苯基乙胺，这种神经调节物质被觉得对调节情绪非常重要。
neuromodulator[,njuərəumɔdjuleitə]：n.神经调质；神经调节物质
Dark chocolate also has a higher concentration of flavonoids, antioxidant chemicals which lower inflammation and can prevent the onset of depression.
黑巧克力还含有较高浓度的类黄酮，这种抗氧化剂可以减轻炎症，还能预防出现抑郁。
antioxidant [æntɪɒksɪdnt]：n.抗氧化剂
However British scientists urged caution about the findings, suggesting that the decision to eat dark chocolate could be linked to other health factors. For example people who choose dark chocolate may be more health conscious in general, which is known to protect against depression.
不过，英国科学家敦促大家小心对待这一发现，并称吃黑巧克力的决定可能与其他健康原因有关。比如，通常来讲，选择黑巧克力的人可能更有健康意识，这也可以预防抑郁。
Depressed people are also more likely to crave more sugary fatty foods and so could be less likely to pick a dark alternative when choosing chocolate.
抑郁的人也更大概想吃更多的高糖高脂食物，因此在选择巧克力时，他们不太可能选择黑巧克力。
