新加坡研發出益生菌啤酒 可改善腸道健康

酷熱的夏天來一杯冰爽的啤酒可謂人生一大樂事，現在科學家研發出了一種益生菌啤酒，可以改善你的免疫系統，消滅體內的病原體和毒素，讓你喝喝更健康。

If you needed yet another reason to drink beer, science just gave it to you. Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) just developed a new type of probiotic beer which could improve your immune system and neutralize pathogens and toxins.
如果喝啤酒還需要理由的話，科學家可以給你個理由。新加坡國立大學研究人員剛剛研發了一種新型的益生菌啤酒，這種啤酒可以改善你的免疫系統，消除體內的病原體和毒素。

The idea of developing a healthy, probiotic beer, came from Miss Chan Mei Zhi Alcine, a fourth-year student from the Food Science and Technology Programme at the NUS Faculty of Science. Chan realized that while the market abounds with dairy-based probiotics, there’s another huge untapped market for probiotics: beer. Due to its nature, beer is a fertile ground for probiotics, and the craft beer phenomenon has been growing at a staggering rate in many parts of the world — so why not blend the two?
研發健康的益生菌啤酒這一靈感來源於新加坡國立大學理學院食品科學技術系大四應屆生陳美芝（音譯）。她意識到，儘管市場中有多種益生菌乳製品，但還有一塊巨大的益生菌市場尚未被開發，那就是啤酒。由於性質使然，啤酒是益生菌的沃土。此外，在世界各地，精釀啤酒現象正以驚人速度增長着。那麼，爲何不將兩者合二爲一呢？

“The health benefits of probiotics are well known. While good bacteria are often present in food that have been fermented, there are currently no beers in the market that contain probiotics. Developing sufficient counts of live probiotics in beer is a challenging feat as beers contain hop acids that prevent the growth and survival of probiotics. As a believer of achieving a healthy diet through consuming probiotics, this is a natural choice for me when I picked a topic for my final-year project,” said Miss Chan, who will be graduating in July 2017.
陳美芝在2017年7月份就要畢業了，她說：“益生菌的健康益處衆人皆知。雖然益生菌通常存在於已發酵的食物中，但在啤酒中培養足量活性益生菌非常具有挑戰性，因爲啤酒花酸會殺死益生菌，因此目前市面上含有益生菌的啤酒相當罕見。我相信人們可以通過食用益生菌來達到健康飲食，所以我自然而然地選擇這個主題來作爲我最後一年的課題。”

Working with Associate Professor Liu Shao Quan, she used a strain of Lactobacillus paracasei called L26, which seems to be particularly promising. The probiotic gives a strong taste with pleasant aromas, and the beer itself is quite light — with only 3.5% alcohol.
她與教授劉紹泉（音譯）一起，選取了一種市場前景良好的微生物，名爲L26的副乾酪乳桿菌。因爲它會利用麥芽汁裏的糖分，產生乳酸，使啤酒具有刺激性味道、並散發出芬芳。並且啤酒本身濃度較低，酒精濃度僅爲3.5%。

“For this beer, we used a lactic acid bacterium as a probiotic microorganism,” explains Chan Mei Zhi Alcine, who developed the beer, in a statement. “It will utilise sugars present in the wort to produce sour-tasting lactic acid, resulting in a beer with sharp and tart flavors. The final product, which takes around a month to brew, has an alcohol content of about 3.5 percent.”
開發出這種啤酒的陳美芝在一份聲明中說：“對於這種啤酒，我們使用一種乳酸菌作爲益生菌。它會利用麥芽汁的糖來產生酸味的乳酸，最後生產出帶有尖銳酸味的啤酒。釀造該產品需耗時一個月，其酒精含量約爲3.5%。”

Now, we’ll be the first to breathe in a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to probiotics. Studies have often been contradictory or inconclusive when it comes to probiotics, and they’re certainly given much more credit than they deserve on the market. However, Lactobacillus paracasei L26 was documented as having immune-boosting properties in mice — though this has yet to be confirmed in humans. They’ve already taken out a patent for the recipe to sell it commercially, which means we won’t be seeing a peer-reviewed study on the beer and a decisive verdict on its positive properties. Still, Liu is confident that the bacterium strain, which was isolated from the human gut, will make for a delicious and healthy beer, which he expects people to enjoy.
目前，就益生菌而言，我們提出的一些懷疑是合理的。因爲關於益生菌的研究通常是矛盾或沒有確切結論的。在市場上，益生菌的作用被人們過分擡高了。不過副乾酪乳桿菌L26的確能夠提高老鼠的免疫力——雖然這種效果在人類身上並沒有得到證實。陳美芝與劉紹泉教授已經獲得了配方專利，以便進行商業銷售。這意味着，我們不會看到同行有關該啤酒的評議研究，以及有關其益處的裁定書。但劉紹泉對這種從人體腸道中分離的菌株很有信心，他認爲這種益生菌將會釀造出深受人們喜愛的、美味而健康的啤酒。

“The general health benefits associated with consuming food and beverages with probiotic strains have driven demand dramatically. In recent years, consumption of craft or specialty beers has gained popularity too. Alcine’s invention is placed in a unique position that caters to these two trends. I am confident that the probiotic gut-friendly beer will be well-received by beer drinkers, as they can now enjoy their beers and be healthy.”
“攝入含益生菌的食品飲料所帶來的健康益處急劇推動着市場需求。近幾年，精釀啤酒或特色啤酒也備受歡迎。陳美芝發明的益生菌啤酒其獨特之處在於它同時迎合了兩種潮流。我相信益生菌啤酒會大獲好評，因爲人們在享用啤酒的同時也滿足了自身對健康的需要。”

It’s not the first attempt to create a beer with secondary healthy effects. In 2008, Rice University researchers brewed an “anti-cancer beer” though we haven’t heard much of it since. While not really the same approach, another cool project was delivered by a small brewery in Scandinavia — PangPang Brewery developed what they call the perfect shower beer. People have brewed beer for millennia, I’m really happy to see this type of innovations finally kicking in.
這並非首次有人試着釀造具有從屬健康功效的啤酒。2008年，萊斯大學的研究人員釀造出了一款“抗癌啤酒”，但後來，它就杳無音訊了。儘管採用的方法不同，但是斯堪的納維亞小型啤酒廠又開發出了另一個很酷的項目——PangPang啤酒廠研發出淋浴啤酒，這是一種專門爲滿足人們洗澡時喝酒的慾望而研發的啤酒。人們釀造啤酒的歷史已有千年了，我很開心看到這種創新終於投入實踐。