刚买了一罐花生吃，现在更有借口了：花生能预防肠癌？

水煮花生、炸花生米、花生煲汤……花生营养丰富、物美价廉，是中国人喜爱的坚果。近日，美国《烹饪之光》杂志综合最新研究，刊文介绍了花生的5个好处。

　　1.控制食欲。

　　花生是“高饱腹感”食物，能让你感觉更饱，或者饱的时间更长。发表在《营养与代谢》期刊上的一篇文章发现，用花生当零食的人吃得更少。美国普度 大学营养科学系教授马特斯博士说：“花生的高饱腹感并不仅仅是脂肪、膳食纤维和蛋白质含量的原因，而是所有因素协同作用的结果。”布莱根妇女医院营养系主 任凯西·麦克马纳斯说，如果在早餐时吃花生或花生酱，就能减少这一天的进食量。

　　2.有助减盐。

　　咸味零食通常是高盐食物。但咸味花生的盐含量，比同样重量的切片面包、冰冻华夫饼还要少。因此，咸味花生不但能满足你吃咸的爱好，还不容易导致摄入食盐过量。

　　3.稳定血糖。

　　研究发现，如果人们把饮食中的一份红肉换成花生，患糖尿病的风险会降低21%。花生会减缓碳水化合物的吸收。如果早上吃点花生，那么你一天的血糖都不会过高。

　　4.保持心脏健康。

　　《营养学》期刊上一篇文章指出，吃花生最多的人，患冠心病的风险能减少35%。研究人员认为，花生中的脂肪酸构成，再加上其他成分的作用，能降低低密度脂蛋白（坏胆固醇）的含量，让心脏更加健康。

　　5.减少结肠癌风险。

　　研究发现，每周至少吃两次花生的女性，患结肠癌的风险能降低58%；而每周至少吃两次花生的男性，能降低27%的风险。科学家分析，可能是花生中的叶酸和其他抗癌的营养物质起了作用。

A number of studies have shown that nutrients found in peanuts, including folic acid, phytosterols, phytic acid (inositol hexaphosphate) and resveratrol, may have anti-cancer effects. A good source all these nutrients—including the phytosterol beta-sisterol, which has demonstrated anti-cancer actions—peanuts have long been considered a likely candidate as a colon cancer-preventive food.(Awad AB, Chan KC, et al., Nutr Cancer)

Colorectal cancer is the second most fatal malignancy in developed countries and the third most frequent cancer worldwide. In Taiwan, not only has incidence of colon cancer increased, but the likelihood of dying from the disease rose 74% from 1993 to 2002.

Taiwanese researchers decided to examine peanuts' anti-colon cancer potential and conducted a 10-year study involving 12,026 men and 11,917 women to see if eating peanuts might affect risk of colon cancer.(Yeh CC, You SL, et al., World J Gastroenterol)

Researchers tracked study participants' weekly food intake, collecting data on frequently consumed foods and folk dishes such as sweet potato, bean products, peanut products, pickled foods, and foods that contained nitrates or were smoked.

Risk of colon cancer was found to be highly correlated with both peanuts, which greatly lessened risk, and pickled foods, which greatly increased risk, particularly in women.

Eating peanuts just 2 or more times each week was associated with a 58% lowered risk of colon cancer in women and a 27% lowered risk in men.

［说实话，我很怀疑上面大部分内容的真实性。其实花生对健康的影响历来争议很大，有人认为对心血管系统不好，更多的人担心黄曲霉。但花生不是垃圾食品。吃几粒花生挺好，但不要走极端。］