研究：混合饮用能量饮料与酒精或损害青少年大脑功能

很多年轻人都喜欢把能量饮料和酒精饮料混合在一起喝，然而，研究发现，在青春期混合饮用能量饮料和酒精会损害大脑功能，进而导致认知能力出现长期问题。

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Experiments on rats have shown that mixing energy drinks with alcohol can cause long-term problems with cognitive function, adding to concerns over young adults drinking habits.对大鼠的实验显示，混合饮用能量饮料与酒精会导致认知功能的长期问题，这一发现增加了人们对年轻人饮酒习惯的担忧。

The study was carried out by a team from the University of Cagliari and the University of Catania in Italy, and groups of male adolescent rats being given alcohol, energy drinks, or a mixture of both. Various standard experiments were then used to assess cognitive function --including brain scans and behavioral tests – up to 53 days after drinking.这项研究由意大利卡利亚里大学和卡塔尼亚大学的团队开展，研究对象为一组雄性青春期大鼠，分别给予酒精、能量饮料或两者的混合物。随后，研究人员通过脑部扫描和行为测试等标准实验评估大鼠的认知功能，最长持续到饮酒后53天。

These tests revealed that the animals that consumed the mixed drinks showed enduring changes in their ability to learn and remember, as well as changes in the hippocampus part of the brain – the area responsible for learning and memory.这些测试结果显示，饮用混合饮料的大鼠在学习和记忆能力方面表现出持久的变化，大脑中负责学习和记忆的海马区也发生了变化。

"Little is known about whether the combined consumption of these drinks, during adolescence, may have long-term effects on central function, raising the question of the risks of this habit on brain maturation," write the researchers in their published paper.研究人员在其发表的论文中写道：“关于青春期同时饮用这些饮料是否会对中枢功能产生长期影响知之甚少，从而让人们开始好奇这种习惯对大脑发育风险的问题。”

Of course, both alcohol and energy drinks are popular with young people for a variety of reasons – from late-night parties to late-night study sessions – and the implications from this study are that these habits could be causing some long-term harm.显然，酒精和能量饮料出于各种原因——从夜间派对到熬夜学习——在年轻人中很受欢迎。这项研究指出，这些习惯可能会造成一些长期的伤害。

In particular, it seems that hippocampus plasticity could be affected, impairing the brain's ability to adapt and change in response to new information and demands. It's a crucial part of the brain's normal functioning.值得注意的是，研究指出，海马区的可塑性可能受到影响，这会削弱大脑适应和应对新信息和需求的能力，而这些能力是大脑正常功能的关键部分。

While the rats on alcohol and energy drinks initially showed a boost in certain brain metrics and functions – including a rise in a protein that drives neuron growth – these benefits didn't last, and over time and into adulthood there was actually a decline in brain capability.尽管饮用酒精和能量饮料的大鼠最初表现出某些大脑指标和功能的提升——包括促进神经元生长的蛋白质水平上升——但这些益处并未持久，随着时间推移，大鼠进入成年期，实际上大脑能力有所下降。

"Our results show that alcohol mixed with energy drinks consumption during the peri-adolescent period produces adaptive hippocampal changes at the electrophysiological and molecular levels, associated with behavioral alterations, which are already detectable during adolescence and persist in adulthood," write the researchers.研究人员写道：“我们的结果表明，在青春期混合饮用酒精和能量饮料会在电生理和分子水平上引起海马区的适应性变化，并伴随行为改变，这些改变在青春期就已能检测到，并持续到成年期。”

These results still need to be confirmed in human studies. But the findings suggests that health concerns over energy drinks are justified. Alcohol has plenty of health implications of its own, and it's common sense that mixing the two together in any kind of significant way isn't the best idea.这些结果仍需在人类研究中得到确认。但这些发现表明，担忧能量饮料对健康的影响是有道理的。酒精本身对健康有很多影响，显然将两者混合饮用不是一个好主意。

The levels of drinks given to the young rats were the equivalent of binge-drinking, a behavior that appears to be on the rise among young human adults. Now the researchers want to see further studies into what the consequences might be.研究中让青春期大鼠摄入的饮料量相当于暴饮行为，这种行为在年轻人中似乎有上升趋势。研究人员希望进一步研究这种行为的后果。

"Overall, the analysis of the whole set of data obtained strongly suggests that alcohol mixed with energy drinks, during adolescence, may have upshots that are not necessarily the sum of those observed with ethanol or energy drinks alone and permanently affect hippocampal plasticity," write the researchers.研究人员总结道：“总体来说，对获取的整套数据的分析有力地表明，在青春期混合饮用酒精和能量饮料可能会产生比单独饮用酒精或能量饮料更严重的效果，并永久影响海马区的可塑性。”

The research has been published in Neuropharmacology.

该研究发表在《神经药理学》上。

英文来源：Science Alert

编译：丹妮

审校：董静、齐磊

来源：中国日报网