评论
打印
Most people don't really like the taste of burnt toast, but sometimes, it's your only option.
大部分人都不喜欢烤糊的面包，但有时这是你唯一的选择。
Like, maybe, in your morning rush to get ready for school or work,
比如，早上你赶着去上学或上班，
you cranked the timer on your toaster too far, and your bread popped out all black and crispy.
你把烤面包机的时间拨得太长，把面包烤得又黑由脆。
You don't have time to make more toast, you're a busy person! And you're really hungry!
你又没时间重做，你可是个大忙人呢！然后你又非常饿！
But how risky was it to chow down on that blackened bread?
但是吃这种黑黑的面包风险几何呢？
Your mom did share that Facebook post about burnt toast causing cancer. Well, short answer: not very. Long answer: probably not very.
你妈确实是在朋友圈里分享了一篇关于糊面包会导致癌症的文章。好吧，简短回答：不太会。长一点的答案：可能不太会。
When starchy foods like bread or potatoes are heated to high enough temperatures, like by baking or frying,
像面包或土豆这样的淀粉类食物经过高温充分加热，比如烤或油炸，
a chemical reaction takes place that produces a compound called acrylamide.
就会出现一种化学反应，产生一种被称为丙烯酰胺的化合物。
In many cases, the reaction is similar to, but distinct from, the Maillard reaction between amino acids and sugars,
多数情况下，这种化学反应和氨基酸与糖之间的美拉德反应相似，但又不一样，
which also causes food to brown during cooking. In really large doses, acrylamide totally is toxic.
美拉德反应也会让食物在烹饪时变成棕色。大剂量的丙烯酰胺是完全有毒的。
Some industrial workers who are regularly exposed to the chemical have suffered neurological damage.
经常接触这种化学物质的一些产业工人会患上神经学损伤。
And other work on rats has also shown that acrylamide could attach itself to parts of red blood cells, and ultimately damage DNA.
对老鼠进行的试验表明丙烯酰胺会粘附在红血细胞上并最终损害DNA.
But all of that is when acrylamide is used as a sealant, not when it's a byproduct of toasting your bread for too long.
但只有在丙烯酰胺被用作密封剂时会这样，当它是烤面包的一种副产品时却不会。
It wasn't even until 2002 that the chemical was definitely discovered in food.
甚至直到2002年，这种化学物质才在食物中被发现。
Regardless, the UK's Food Standard Agency eventually recommended that
英国食品标准局最后建议
people should avoid eating singed starches even though they acknowledged they didn't have enough scientific evidence
人们应该避免食用烧焦的淀粉，即便他们知道他们并没有充足的科学依据
to conclude exactly how dangerous these foods were for humans.
确切总结出这些食物对人类的危害有多大。
And the International Agency for Research on Cancer also listed acrylamide as a "probable carcinogen".
国际癌症研究署（IARC）也将丙烯酰胺列为一种“可能的致癌物质”。
But given that IARC also lists a bunch of other stuff as carcinogens,
但是考虑到IARC也将很多其他物质列为致癌物，
including working as a hairdresser and hot drinks, it's not as scary as it sounds.
包括理发师这个职业和热饮，因此也没听起来的那么恐怖。
So far, based on the research, it looks like acrylamide isn't very likely to cause cancer in humans.
到目前为止，根据研究来看，似乎丙烯酰胺不大可能会导致人类患癌。
Remember those industrial workers? While neurological damage is very much not a good thing,
还记得那些产业工人么？虽然神经学损伤不是一件好事，
studies of that group have also found no increased risk of cancer in almost all organs,
针对这类人群的研究表明，在几乎所有器官中并没有发现增加患癌症的风险，
except for pancreatic cancer in only the most heavily exposed workers.
除了仅大部分严重接触该物质的工人患胰腺癌的风险增加了。
In 2015, a meta-analysis of 32 studies was also unable to find any causal link between acrylamide
2015年，对32项研究的Meta分析也没有发现丙烯酰胺
and an increased risk for a variety of cancers including pancreatic.
和各种癌症增加风险之间的任何关系，包括胰腺癌。
And while some studies do show an increased risk in kidney and ovarian cancer, there are plenty others that contradict them.
虽然一些研究确实表明肾癌和卵巢癌风险增加，但还有大量其他研究与它们相悖。
One of the problems with these studies looking at acrylamide
这些调查丙烯酰胺的研究的问题之一是
is that the animals used are exposed to way more of the chemical than any human ever would be in day-to-day life.
实验用的动物接触这种物质的量远远多于任何人类每天能够接触到的量。
Like, you'd need to eat 75 kilograms of fries every day for 2 years to be comparable to one study done in rats.
比如，你需要每天吃75公斤的炸薯条，连续吃两年才能与试验剂量相比。
And while all those fries sound amazing, it's just not going to happen.
所有那些炸薯条听起来让人吃惊，但这是不会发生的。
So, eating the occasional burnt piece of toast isn't going to kill you.
所以偶尔吃一块烤糊的面包死不了。
If you're worried about your health, you can always talk to your doctor and focus on things like having a healthy diet and getting some exercise.
如果你担心自己的健康，那么你可以经常去和你的医生聊聊并关注健康饮食多运动。
Because if french fries are going to kill you, it's probably not the acrylamide
因为如果炸薯条能杀人，杀死你的也可能不是丙烯酰胺
and also, research shows that those things are definitely good for you.
而且研究还表明那些物质绝对是有益的。
Thanks to patron Tori Walsh for asking this question, and to all of our patrons on Patreon who voted to have it answered.
感谢赞助人Tori Walsh的提问，感谢所有为这个问题投票人赞助人。
We love the questions you come up with and, as always, we are really thankful for your support.
我们喜欢大家提出的问题，一如既往，感谢大家的支持。
Thanks for helping us make stuff like this.
感谢大家帮助我们制作这样的视频。
If you'd like to support SciShow and free science education on the Internet, you can go to patreon.com/scishow.
如果你想支持《科学秀》以及网上的免费科学教育资源，请登录patreon.com/scishow。
