This is you eating a lot of peanut M&Ms after seeing stories about chocolate's unbelievable health benefits.

這是你在聽說巧克力擁有不可置信的健康好處之後，吃下一堆 M&M 花生巧克力。

Carlos also just loves peanut M&Ms.

Carlos 也很喜歡花生口味的 M&M。

Almost every week you can open the newspaper, or turn on your favorite news website—not Vox, but other news web sites—and notice that there are stories about the purported health benefits of chocolate.

幾乎每個禮拜，你只要攤開報紙、打開喜歡的新聞網站—Vox 除外—就能發現標榜巧克力之健康益處的報導。

Chocolate can help you live longer, it'll make your nails shinier, it'll help you lose weight.

巧克力有助於延年益壽、讓指甲更有光澤、幫助減重。

There are so many stories about chocolate and its health benefits and we just love to gobble them up.

有許多報導都是關於巧克力以及它帶來的健康好處，而我們就是喜歡大口吃下它。

But chocolate hasn't always been a media darling.

但巧克力並非一直都是媒體寵兒。

In the past, it was thought to cause acne.

過去人們認為巧克力會誘發青春痘。

No, this is just regular adult acne.

不，這只是一般成人會長的痘痘。

I don't drink enough water.

我水喝得不夠多。

And this article from 1997 even called it "addictive."

而這篇 1997 年的文章甚至主張巧克力會使人上癮。

At Vox, we started to ask ourselves how did chocolate become a health food?

於是 Vox 這邊浮現了疑問：巧克力是如何變成健康食物的？

It turns out, there's a reason behind the chocolate madness.

結果我們發現，巧克力風潮背後是有原因的。

In 1982, Mars, which is one of the world's biggest chocolate makers, established something called the Mars Center for Cocoa Health Sciences.

1982 年身為全球最大巧克力製造商之一的 Mars 建立了所謂的「Mars 可可營養科學研究中心」。

And its aim was to learn more about the cocoa bean and understanding chocolate and cocoa's effects on the body.

而它的目標是想更了解可可豆，以及巧克力對身體的影響。

And whether it might have any health benefits.

還有它是否可能含有任何健康益處。

Vox examined the Mars sponsored research and found that out of a hundred studies we identified over the last 40 years, 98 of them had positive or favorable conclusions.

Vox 檢視了 Mars 贊助的研究，並發現過去四十年我們找到的報告中，100 份裡有 98 份都做出正面或有助益的結論。

That's a pretty big number, and it made us wonder: what's so magical about chocolate that it's getting these glowing reviews?

這是筆不小的數量，而這也讓我們好奇：巧克力究竟有什麼魔法，讓它贏得這些輝煌的評價？

Flae-vah-nols, they're micronutrients that are found in the cocoa bean and they're thought to have antioxidant properties.

黃烷醇是可可豆裡含有的微量營養素，而人們相信它具有抗氧化特性。

Mars' initial focus was on the overall benefits of chocolate, but it shifted to this specific compound.

Mars 一開始只關注巧克力的整體益處，後來轉而針對這種化合物。

Some of these studies concluded that flavanols could boost your mood and cognitive performance, and that both cocoa powder and dark chocolate can have a "favorable effect" on cardiovascular disease risk.

部分研究結論指出黃烷醇能提振心情與知能表現，並主張在心血管疾病風險方面，可可粉與黑巧克力都能造成「有益的影響」。

Which sounds awesome, but it doesn't mean all kinds of chocolate have the same health benefits—or any health benefits at all.

這聽起來很棒，但這並不表示每一種巧克力都有同樣的健康益處，甚至可能一絲好處也無。

Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and cocoa beans aren't the same thing.

我們不能把黑巧克力、牛奶巧克力、可可豆混為一談。

To understand why, we have to check out a cocoa tree near the equator.

想了解原因的話，我們得跑到赤道附近找棵可可樹。

Just kidding, this isn't borders, folks.

開玩笑的，你們看，這可不是國界。

Cocoa or cacao beans come from these trees.

可可豆是由這些樹上採下來。

The beans are roasted and ground into what we know as cocoa powder or cocoa butter.

這些豆子經過烘烤、研磨，才成為我們熟知的可可粉或可可脂。

Dark chocolate is made mostly from cocoa butter and typically has a higher percentage of cocoa.

黑巧克力的主成分為可可脂，且通常含有較高比例的可可。

Milk chocolate is created from cocoa and, well, milk.

牛奶巧克力則是由可可，當然還有牛奶所製成。

The difference is that it goes through more processing with added ingredients.

差別在於牛奶巧克力經過更多加工程序，且會加進其他食材。

It has more fats and sugar and less cocoa—that's what makes milk chocolate so sweet.

它含有更多脂肪、糖，以及較少的可可，這也就是為什麼牛奶巧克力那麼甜。

But it's also the reason milk chocolate isn't your best bet for these flavanols.

同時也是因為這樣，牛奶巧克力並非你攝取黃烷醇的最佳選擇。

One of the big problems with flavanols, is that when you process chocolate you end up killing them off.

黃烷醇的一大麻煩在於一旦巧克力經過加工，裡面的黃烷醇也會跟著消失。

In addition, different types of cocoa beans have varying amounts of flavanols to begin with.

再者，不同種類的可可豆所含的黃烷醇數量本來就不一樣。

So, different kinds of chocolate contain varying amounts of the compound manufacturers have been basing their studies on.

也就是說，製造商的研究始終奠定在不同巧克力、含量不一的化合物上。

So, the reason companies are funding so much science, they're putting money into their own science and research institutions, and they're funding chairs at universities.

因此那些公司才會大力金援科學，他們將資金投入自家的科學與研究機構，同時也透過資助在大學裡佔有一席。

And the reason they're doing that is to sell more chocolate.

他們這麼做是為了要販售更多巧克力。

Chocolate is big business.

巧克力是可觀的商機。

Chocolate sales have gone up from $14.2 billion in 2007 to $18.9 billion in 2017.

從 2007 至 2017 年，巧克力的銷售量從 142 億成長至 189 億美金。

And Mars isn't the only company profiting from this.

而 Mars 不是唯一由此獲利的公司。

Some of the world's biggest chocolate makers are also funding cocoa science, hyping it up to be the next big thing to help you lose weight, or remember where you left your keys.

有些全球最大的巧克力製造商也資助了可可科學，再加以炒作成幫助減重、讓你記得上次鑰匙丟在哪裡。

When the media, and press offices interpret some of these studies, we like to write "chocolate" in our stories even though the studies were only looking at cocoa beans or cocoa supplements.

當新聞媒體解讀這些報告時，縱使研究對象只有可可豆或可可營養補充品，我們卻總是喜歡寫成「巧克力」。

Despite a growing obesity epidemic, this niche of nutrition science is steering health-conscious consumers toward premium and gourmet dark chocolate.

儘管肥胖情形更加普遍，這塊營養科學的利基市場正引導著注重健康的消費者，趨向頂級而美味的黑巧克力。

These products are now seen as "healthy indulgences."

這些產品如今被視為「健康的放縱享受」。

In short term studies, researchers have found that flavanols can lower blood pressure or improve cognition by certain measures.

在短期的研究中，研究人員發現黃烷醇能夠降低血壓，或就某方面來看，能夠增進認知能力。

But none of these things have actually been studied in long term research on endpoints that really matter for health.

不過沒有任何一項結果出自於以健康為最終考量的長期研究。

Well then, do these studies even matter?

那麼這些研究是否還有重要性可言呢？

So I want to be clear, these studies aren't necessarily bad studies, many of them have passed peer-review and been published in prestigious journals.

我想澄清這些研究並非品質不佳，其中有許多都通過了同儕審查，並且發表於聲譽卓著的期刊上。

But when you design and interpret a study there are all kinds of ways that bias can be introduced.

不過在設計、詮釋一份研究的過程裡，偏見常常是難以避免的。

This study published in Nature Neuroscience is a good example of that.

這份發表在《自然-神經科學》的研究就是個好例子。

In 2014, this Mars-sponsored study looked at whether cocoa flavanols could prevent cognitive decline.

2014 年，這項由 Mars 贊助的研究探討可可的黃烷醇是否能預防知能衰退。

The problems with this study?

這份研究的問題是？

It ran for only 12 weeks, involved a small number of participants, and focused on narrow outcomes that made the results unreliable.

它僅進行了 12 週、受測者少，而且著重的結果相當狹隘，降低其可信度。

Okay…maybe there's more hype around the benefits of chocolate than there should be.

好吧......或許談到巧克力的好處，有許多都是炒作而非事實。

But like what's the worst that can happen if you eat a bunch of chocolate?

不過假如你吃下一堆巧克力，最糟的情況能有多糟？

A little bit of anything isn't really bad for health.

任何東西只要是少量攝取，都不會造成負面的健康影響。

But chocolate is also filled with a lot of sugar, calories and fat.

但是巧克力充滿糖分、卡路里和脂肪。

And consuming a lot of those things would counteract any health benefits you might get from the flavanols or the antioxidants in even the best cocoa.

大量攝取可能會抵消掉你從黃烷醇或抗氧化成分所得到的益處，就算你吃的是最好的可可也一樣。

Right, so you probably want to eat chocolate in moderation, and not be this guy eating a bunch of it in one sitting… dude…

因此吃巧克力最好適量就好，別像這傢伙一口氣吃掉一堆......老兄......

Are you still filming me?

你還在拍我啊？

...to say, lower your blood pressure because there's no excuse, er, science to back that behavior.

(吃掉一堆) 想要降血壓，因為這種行為背後可沒有藉口、沒有科學支持。