Notice (阅读提醒):

· This article is not written by an expert. If there is an error in this article, please tell me and I will modify it. Thank you for reading!

· 我不是一个专家，所以如果在这篇文章中出现任何问题的话请及时和我说，我会进行修改订正的。非常感谢您的阅读！

· The article is written in English first and translated to Mandarin through DeepL. Please forgive my poor linguistic skill (whether it is English or Mandarin) 

· 这篇文章一开始是英文写的，之后才用DeepL翻译的。请谅解我贫瘠的语言能力（无论是英文还是中文）。

· The illustrations in this article are done by the author. 

· 文中的插图是作者自己绘制的。

Hello, I am Wendy Wu from grade 12. When I read books related to neuroscience (or you can call it ‘brain science’), I am always amazed by the complex and logical mechanisms of our brain functions. Protecting our brains is indeed a big deal for us. However, there is a phenomenon: most people usually prefer to spend lots of money on cosmetic medicine, but often ignore the importance of their daily diets, circadian rhythm, etc., in affecting their body and mind.

大家好，我是12年级的吴静仪。当我阅读与神经科学（或者你可以称之为 "脑科学"）有关的书籍时，我总是被我们大脑功能的复杂和逻辑机制惊讶。保护我们的大脑对我们来说确实是一件大事。但是在生活中我们大多都会看到这样的现象：大多数人通常喜欢花很多钱在医美上，但往往忽略了日常饮食、昼夜节律等对身体和心灵的影响的重要性。

Therefore, I decide to open a blog to share some exciting knowledge in neuroscience and raise people’s awareness in protecting their brains through preventative measures. 

因此，我打算开一个博客，分享一些有趣的神经科学知识，提高人们通过预防措施保护自己大脑的意识。

In this article, I will introduce the idea of neuroplasticity (神经可塑性) and delve into the importance of nutrition in affecting it. After that, I will focus on what kinds of foods your brain “likes to eat” and how they boost your brain’s energy. In the end, there will be a summary to highlight the foods that you could include in your daily diet.

在这篇文章中，我将介绍神经可塑性的概念，并深入探讨营养对其影响的重要性。之后，我将重点介绍你的大脑 "喜欢吃 "哪种食物，以及它们如何提高你的大脑的能力。最后会有一个总结，强调你可以在日常饮食中加入的食物。

Before I start talking about neuroplasticity, let me introduce a girl called Michelle Mack. Michelle was born with only the right hemisphere of the brain, but surprisingly, she could speak fluently, graduated from high school and lived normally. When she was 27 years old, the doctor determined that the right side of her brain essentially took over the function that her ‘left brain’ was supposed to present. The example of Michelle showed us the incredible power of neuroplasticity (神经可塑性), which is defined as “the ability of the brain to change and adapt”. In other words, it’s the ability that the brain rewires its structure by generating new cells, establishing neural circuits and developing its function through adapting to various experiences throughout your whole life. However, the prerequisite for neuronal generation is the preservation of the brain’s resilience. One of the ways to achieve this is to obtain healthy foods. 

在我开始谈论神经可塑性之前，我想介绍一个叫米歇尔-麦克的女孩。米歇尔出生时只有大脑的右半球，但令人惊讶的是，她可以流利地说话，从高中毕业，并正常生活。在她27岁的时候，医生确定她的右脑基本上接管了她的 "左脑 "应该呈现的功能。米歇尔的例子向我们展示了神经可塑性的惊人力量，它被定义为 "大脑的变化和适应能力"。换句话说，这是大脑通过生成新的细胞、建立神经回路和通过适应你一生中的各种经历而发展其功能来重新构建其结构的能力。然而，神经元生成的前提条件是保持大脑的复原力。实现这一目标的方法之一是获得健康食品。

Your brain is “scared” of oxidative stress (氧化应激) - the imbalance of free radicals (自由基) and antioxidants (抗氧化剂) in your body, which damages cells and tissue. Oxidative stress might lead to developing a series of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases.

你的大脑对氧化应激感到 "害怕"，氧化应激是体内自由基和抗氧化剂的不平衡的一个状态，长时间保持这种状态会损害你的细胞和组织。氧化应激可能导致发展一系列的疾病，例如癌症、糖尿病、心脏病和神经退行性疾病。

Scientists have found that neurotrophic factors and antioxidants play an essential role in slowing down oxidative stress.

但是，科学家们发现，神经营养因子和抗氧化剂在减缓氧化应激方面发挥着重要作用。

Antioxidants prevent oxidative stress through the removal or neutralization of free radicals. On the other hand, neurotrophic factors (神经营养因子) are the proteins secreted that promote essential functions in synaptic and neuronal growth, myelination (髓鞘形成), differentiation, and survival. Two main neurotrophic factors are associated with your cognitive function affected by diet: brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). BDNF is essential in neuronal growth and survival as it protects neurons from damage triggered by the infection or injury. Meanwhile, it also associates with the consolidation of memory as it reinforces synaptic formation. NGF also plays a role in memory consolidation by affecting neuroplasticity and the survival of neurons in the forebrain (cerebral cortex, hippocampus (海马体), basal forebrain and hypothalamus (下丘脑)). These neurotrophic factors play a particular role in age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD/阿尔兹海默症). 

抗氧化剂通过清除或中和自由基来防止氧化压力。另一方面，神经营养因子是分泌的蛋白质，促进突触和神经元生长、髓鞘化、分化和生存的基本功能。这里介绍两个和你认知能力相关的神经营养因子：脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）和神经生长因子（NGF）。BDNF在神经元的生长和生存中是至关重要的，因为它保护神经元免受感染或损伤引发的损害。同时，它还与记忆的巩固有关，因为它加强了突触的形成。NGF还通过影响神经可塑性和前脑（大脑皮层、海马、基底前脑和下丘脑）神经元的存活而在记忆巩固中发挥作用。这些神经营养因子在与年龄有关的疾病，如阿尔茨海默病（AD）中发挥着特殊的作用。

So, what are the foods that you are expected to eat?

那么，哪些食物对你有益呢？

The first type of antioxidative substance that we are going to talk about is flavonoid (类黄酮). It is a substance that can help promote your memory, learning and other cognitive functions. It has been discovered that flavonoids can increase the BDNF concentration in your hippocampus - a part of your brain that plays a vital role in long-term memory formation and consolidation. Where can you find flavonoids, then? Berries, including raspberry, strawberry, and blueberry, contain a high level of flavonoids (especially blueberry). Actually, chocolate also contains a lot of flavonoids. However, only dark chocolate that has higher than 70% of cacao is beneficial for your health.

我们要谈的第一种抗氧化物质是类黄酮。它是一种可以帮助促进你的记忆、学习和其他认知功能的物质。已经发现类黄酮可以增加海马体中的BDNF浓度--海马体是你大脑的一部分，在长期记忆的形成和巩固中起着重要作用。像覆盆子、草莓和蓝莓这样的莓类食物，都含有大量的类黄酮（尤其是蓝莓）。实际上，巧克力也含有大量的类黄酮。然而，只有可可含量高于70%的黑巧克力才对你的健康有益。

Moving on to the next substance, curcumin (姜黄素), a natural polyphenol that can be found in the rhizome of Curcuma longa (turmeric, a spice). Curcumin boosts the release of a high level of BDNF in your brain. Through animal studies, scientists have discovered that curcumin has a function to delay or even reversing some brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s diseases (we should note that these studies were conducted in animals, so it is hard to say if the same effect will appear in humans). Eating curry to obtain curcumin will be one good way to increase your cognitive function.

接下来是姜黄素，可以在姜黄的根茎中找到的一种天然多酚。姜黄素能促进你大脑中高水平的BDNF的释放。通过动物研究，科学家发现姜黄素有延缓甚至逆转一些脑部疾病的功能，包括阿尔茨海默氏症（我们应该注意，这些研究是在动物身上进行的，所以很难说同样的效果是否会出现在人类身上）。吃咖喱获得姜黄素将是增加认知功能的一个好方法。

The third one is vitamin E, a really common antioxidant substance, helps prevent the oxidation and causation of cognitive decline diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease) by neutralizing free radicals. Foods containing a rich amount of vitamin E include almonds, sunflower seeds, avocados and spinach. 

第三种是维生素E，这是一种相当常见的抗氧化物质，通过中和自由基帮助防止氧化和引起认知能力下降的疾病（如阿尔茨海默病）。含有丰富维生素E的食物包括杏仁、葵花籽、牛油果和菠菜。

Other substances that are beneficial for improving your cognitive function are omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids (you can find it in oily fish such as salmon, sardine and herring), L-theanine (found in green tea) and resveratrol (found in grapes, nuts, blueberries, raspberry, etc.). There are many other foods that you can find to enhance your cognitive function. It is also essential for you to realize the idea of synergy when you are having the meal – foods associate together to contribute to your health – if you only consume vegetables and ignore other foods, such as meat and carbohydrates, it might cause you to suffer the deficiency in a specific molecule, and therefore increase the risk of having a particular disease. Besides eating, it is also necessary to obtain sufficient water every day. Ideally, getting around 500mL of water per day for every 13kg body weight would be enough. For the next article in this blog, I will write the foods that you may need to avoid eating to prevent risk increases the chance of having cognitive diseases.

其他有利于改善认知功能的物质有欧米茄-3不饱和脂肪酸（你可以在油性鱼类如鲑鱼、沙丁鱼和鲱鱼中找到它），L-茶氨酸（在绿茶中发现）和白藜芦醇（在葡萄、坚果、蓝莓、树莓等中发现）。还有许多其他食物，你可以通过其他渠道找到它们来增强你的认知功能。在进餐时，你也必须认识到协同作用的概念--食物联合起来促进你的健康--如果你只吃蔬菜而忽视其他食物，如肉类和碳水化合物，可能会导致你遭受特定分子的缺乏，从而增加患某种疾病的风险。除了饮食，每天获得足够的水也是必要的。理想状态下，每13公斤就对应约500mL水（ex.假如你有130斤的话，每天就喝2500mL水）。在本博客的下一篇文章中，我会介绍一些你可能需要避免食用的食物，以防止增加患认知性疾病的风险。