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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.
如果喝啤酒还需要理由的话，科学家可以给你个理由。新加坡国立大学研究人员刚刚研发了一种新型的益生菌啤酒，这种啤酒可以改善你的免疫系统，消除体内的病原体和毒素。
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?
研发健康的益生菌啤酒这一灵感来源于新加坡国立大学理学院食品科学技术系大四应届生陈美芝（音译）。她意识到，尽管市场中有多种益生菌乳制品，但还有一块巨大的益生菌市场尚未被开发，那就是啤酒。由于性质使然，啤酒是益生菌的沃土。此外，在世界各地，精酿啤酒现象正以惊人速度增长着。那么，为何不将两者合二为一呢？
“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.
陈美芝在2017年7月份就要毕业了，她说：“益生菌的健康益处众人皆知。虽然益生菌通常存在于已发酵的食物中，但在啤酒中培养足量活性益生菌非常具有挑战性，因为啤酒花酸会杀死益生菌，因此目前市面上含有益生菌的啤酒相当罕见。我相信人们可以通过食用益生菌来达到健康饮食，所以我自然而然地选择这个主题来作为我最后一年的课题。”
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.
她与教授刘绍泉（音译）一起，选取了一种市场前景良好的微生物，名为L26的副干酪乳杆菌。因为它会利用麦芽汁里的糖分，产生乳酸，使啤酒具有刺激性味道、并散发出芬芳。并且啤酒本身浓度较低，酒精浓度仅为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.”
开发出这种啤酒的陈美芝在一份声明中说：“对于这种啤酒，我们使用一种乳酸菌作为益生菌。它会利用麦芽汁的糖来产生酸味的乳酸，最后生产出带有尖锐酸味的啤酒。酿造该产品需耗时一个月，其酒精含量约为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，我们提出的一些怀疑是合理的。因为关于益生菌的研究通常是矛盾或没有确切结论的。在市场上，益生菌的作用被人们过分抬高了。不过副干酪乳杆菌L26的确能够提高老鼠的免疫力——虽然这种效果在人类身上并没有得到证实。陈美芝与刘绍泉教授已经获得了配方专利，以便进行商业销售。这意味着，我们不会看到同行有关该啤酒的评议研究，以及有关其益处的裁定书。但刘绍泉对这种从人体肠道中分离的菌株很有信心，他认为这种益生菌将会酿造出深受人们喜爱的、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.”
“摄入含益生菌的食品饮料所带来的健康益处急剧推动着市场需求。近几年，精酿啤酒或特色啤酒也备受欢迎。陈美芝发明的益生菌啤酒其独特之处在于它同时迎合了两种潮流。我相信益生菌啤酒会大获好评，因为人们在享用啤酒的同时也满足了自身对健康的需要。”
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.
这并非首次有人试着酿造具有从属健康功效的啤酒。2008年，莱斯大学的研究人员酿造出了一款“抗癌啤酒”，但后来，它就杳无音讯了。尽管采用的方法不同，但是斯堪的纳维亚小型啤酒厂又开发出了另一个很酷的项目——PangPang啤酒厂研发出淋浴啤酒，这是一种专门为满足人们洗澡时喝酒的欲望而研发的啤酒。人们酿造啤酒的历史已有千年了，我很开心看到这种创新终于投入实践。
