時尚雙語:要看電視 先遠離零食

People eat more when they are glued to the television, and the more entertaining the program, the more they eat, according to a recent research.

It seems that distracted brains do not notice what the mouth is doing, said Dr. Alan Hirsch, neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. Hirsch explored the impact of smell, taste and eating behaviors while watching TV by measuring potato chip consumption.

Forty-five volunteers ate as many chips as they wanted during five-minute intervals over three-week periods while they watched monologues by late-night talk show hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno. They also were given chips to eat when the television was off.

Hirsch found people ate an average of 44 percent more chips while watching Letterman and 42 percent more while viewing Leno, than when they did not watch TV.

"If you can concentrate on how the food tastes you'll eat less because you'll feel full faster," Hirsch said, "So if that's the case, let's look at the opposite. What if you're distracted? If you're distracted, in theory, then you'd eat more."

據最近一項研究顯示，當人們目不轉睛地盯着電視看時，他們會吃得更多，而且，節目的娛樂性越強，人們吃得就越多。

看樣子似乎走神的大腦根本沒有注意到嘴巴正在做什麼。艾倫·赫希博士這樣說道。他是位於美國芝加哥的嗅覺與味覺治療研究基金會的神經學主任。通過計量炸薯片的消耗量，赫希做了有關看電視對味覺、嗅覺和飲食行爲產生影響的研究。

在三週多的時間裏，45位志願者連續觀看午夜脫口秀節目主持人戴維·萊特曼和傑伊·萊諾的滔滔獨白。此間他們想吃多少炸薯片就吃多少，中間會有五分鐘的休息時間。在沒看電視時，也有炸薯片供應。

赫希發現，與沒看電視的時候相比，志願者們在觀看萊特曼的節目時平均多吃了44%的炸薯片，而在看萊諾的節目時則多吃了42%的炸薯片。

“如果你能把注意力集中在食物的味道上，就會吃得少一些，因爲你會更快地感覺到飽脹感，”赫希博士說。“那麼如果這個結論的確成立，讓我們來看看相反的情況。如果你的注意力沒集中在吃上，將會怎樣呢？理論上，如果你走神了，就會吃得更多。”