蟑螂奶未来或成为超级食品

cockroach milk蟑螂奶或成为超级食品

            Scientists think cockroach milk could be the superfood of the future

An international team of scientists has just sequenced（按顺序排好） a protein crystal located in the midgut（中肠） of cockroaches.
最近，一个国际科学家团队确定了蟑螂中肠内的蛋白质晶体的结构序列。

The reason?为什么要研究这个？

It’s more than four times as nutritious as cow’s milk and, the researchers think it could be the key to feeding our growing population in the future.
因为它的营养价值是牛奶的四倍多。研究人员认为在人口不断增长的将来，蟑螂奶可以成为人类的重要食物。
The fact that an insect produces milk is pretty fascinating – but what fascinated researchers is the fact that a single one of these protein crystals（蛋白质晶体）contains more than three times the amount of energy found in an equivalent amount of buffalo（水牛） milk (which is also higher in calories then dairy milk).
昆虫产奶这一事实本身已十分有趣，但更让研究者感兴趣的是一份蛋白质晶体中所含的能量是相同重量的水牛奶的三倍（所含热量也比相同重量的牛奶多）。

Not only is the milk a dense source of calories and nutrients, it’s also time-released（具有时间控释性的）. As the protein in the milk is digested, the crystal releases more protein at an equivalent rate to continue the digestion.
蟑螂奶不仅富含热量和营养物质，同时也具有时间控释性的。当奶中的蛋白质被消化，晶体会相应地释放出等量的蛋白质来继续被消化。

It’s important to point out that this dense protein source is definitely never going to be for those trying to lose weight, and probably isn’t even required for most western diets, where we are already eating too many calories per day.
需要指出的是，这种高蛋白质的食物并不适合想要减肥的人，也不适合大多数西方人的饮食，因为西方人每天已经摄入了太多的卡路里。
But for those who struggle to get the amount of calories required per day, this could be a quick and easy way to get calories and nutrients.
但是对于那些每天努力要获得足够热量的人来说，这将是他们获取热量和营养快捷而简单的方式。

Now the researchers have the sequence, they are hoping to get yeast（酵母） to produce the crystal in much larger quantities- making it slightly more efficient (and less gross) than extracting crystals from cockroach’s guts（内脏）.
目前科学家们已经测定出了结构序列，他们希望用酵母大量生产这种蛋白质晶体，相比直接从蟑螂肠中获取能更有效率一点，也比较不会令人恶心。

Vocabulary

protein crystal： 蛋白质晶体time-released ： 随时间发挥药力的，                           具有时间控释性的gut  [ɡʌt]  n. 内脏midgut ['mɪdgʌt]【解剖学】中肠sequence  ['siːkw(ə)ns] v. 按顺序排好buffalo  ['bʌfələʊ] n. [畜牧]水牛yeast  [jiːst] n. 酵母；泡沫

              小编内心对这一切其实是拒绝的😣😣

本文为节选，来源：China Daily

点击“阅读原文”