Why Do We Love Junk Food? 为什么我们喜欢垃圾食品？

侯冬意

There is a question. Why do we love junk food？

A lot of money goes into making junk food.

And even though it has little to no nutritional1 value， it keeps you wanting more.

It is often high in things like salt and sugar. It also has a lot of fat. They start pleasure centers in our brains. Those make us feel oh-so-yummy-good. And they make us want to keep eating.

See， our brains are pretty big. They need a lot of energy to do their thing. So we love high-energy food.

Beyond the super high calorie2 count， junk food makers have a million tricks up their sleeves. That is when it comes to making us really want their products.

Like the melt-in-your-mouth quality that tricks us， we think the calories have magically floated away.

Or boosting3 flavor just short of what is called， “sensory specific satiety4”. It influences strongly your brain. And you end up not wanting anymore.

We know that it is not good for us. Eating junk food it is linked with many health problems. Some of those are obesity5 and diabetes6. Heart disease and even cancer are also linked to junk food. But even with those problems junk food can be really hard to refuse.

Food for thought， for sure.

有一個问题：我们为什么喜欢垃圾食品？

人们在制造垃圾食品上花了很多钱。

即使它没有什么营养价值，仍然会让你想吃更多。

它通常含有大量的盐和糖，也含有很多脂肪。它们启动了我们大脑中的快乐中心，会让我们觉得很好吃，让我们想一直吃东西。

看，我们的大脑很大，它们需要很多能量来工作，所以我们喜欢高能量食物。

除了超高热量之外，垃圾食品制造商们有无数个花招，让我们真的想要买他们的产品。

就像溶化在口中的特性欺骗了我们，让我们认为卡路里已经神奇地飘走了。

或者改进味道，减少所谓的“特定感觉饱腹感”。这种“特定感觉饱腹感”会强烈影响你的大脑，结果你就不再想吃了。

我们知道它对我们无益。吃垃圾食品与许多健康问题有关，包括肥胖和糖尿病，心脏病甚至癌症也与垃圾食品有关。但即使有这些问题，垃圾食品也很难让人拒绝。

当然，这值得深思。

（英语原文选自：www.tweentribune.com）

【Notes】

1. nutritional [■] adj. 营养的;滋养的

2. calorie [■] n. 卡路里（热量单位） 3. boost [■] v. 促进;增加

4. sensory specific satiety 特定感觉饱腹感 5. obesity [■] n. 肥大，肥胖

6. diabetes [■] n. 糖尿病