囧研究：常嚼口香糖，易患偏头痛

Some 87 per cent of gum-chewing teenagers who suffer regular headaches can cure themselves by giving up chewing gum, new research suggests.
最新研究表明，那些爱嚼口香糖又常容易头痛的青少年中，87%的人会在停止咀嚼口香糖后症状消失。

Scientists at the Tel Aviv University-affiliated Meir Medical Centre, in Israel, found that most adolescents who give up the habit experience significant relief.
以色列特拉维夫大学附属梅尔医学中心的科学家发现，绝大多数青少年在改掉咀嚼口香糖的习惯后头痛症状明显减轻。

The scientists, led by Dr Nathan Watemberg, believe the finding could allow doctors to cure thousands of patients of migraines and tension headaches without the need for additional tests or medication.
由Nathan Watemberg医生领衔的研究组认为，该发现将使医生在不借助任何额外测试和药物治疗的前提下治愈数千患者的偏头痛和紧张性头痛。

‘Out of our 30 patients, 26 reported significant improvement and 19 had complete headache resolution,’ said Dr Watemberg.
Watemberg医生表示，（在该方法的引导下）参与实验的30名患者中，26名的症状有显著改善，其中有19位患者头痛症状完全消失。

‘20 of the improved patients later agreed to go back to chewing gum, and all of them reported an immediate relapse of symptoms.’
“20名症状缓和的患者随后同意恢复咀嚼口香糖习惯，然后他们的头痛症状很快复发。”

Headaches are common in childhood and become more common and frequent during adolescence, particularly among girls.
头痛现象普遍存在于儿童时期，并且在青少年时期日益普遍和发作频繁，女生中这种现象尤为明显。

Typical triggers are stress, tiredness, lack of sleep, heat, video games, noise, sunlight, smoking, missed meals, and menstruation.
常见的触发因素包括压力、疲劳、缺乏睡眠、发热、视频游戏、噪音、日光、吸烟、不吃饭和生理期。

But until now there has been little medical research on the relationship between gum chewing and headaches.
但直到现在，很少有关于嚼口香糖和头痛之间关系的医学研究。

At Meir Medical Centre's Child Neurology Unit and Child Development Centre, Dr Watemberg noticed that many patients who reported headaches were daily gum chewers.
在梅尔医学中心儿童神经病学和发展中心，Watemberg医生注意到很多父母说起换头痛的孩子都常嚼口香糖。

Dr Watemberg found that in many cases, when patients stopped chewing gum at his suggestion, they got substantially better.
Watemberg发现很多案例中，当父母根据他的建议不让孩子再嚼口香糖时，孩子们头痛的状况会大为改善。

Taking a more statistical approach, he asked 30 patients between six and 19 years old, who had chronic migraine or tension headaches and chewed gum daily, to quit chewing gum for one month. They had chewed gum for at least an hour a day and some had chewed for more than six hours a day.
为了更科学地研究，他要求参与实验的30名6-19岁间，患有慢性偏头痛和紧张性头痛的哎嚼口香糖患者在一个月内停止嚼口香糖。这些患者平时每天至少嚼一个小时口香糖，有的甚至每天嚼口香糖超过6小时。

After a month without gum, 19 of the 30 patients reported that their headaches went away entirely and seven reported a decrease in the frequency and intensity of headaches.
一个月没嚼口香糖后，19名患者报告头痛症状完全消失，7人报告头痛发作频率和强度均有所下降。

To test the results, 20 of them agreed to resume gum chewing for two weeks. All of them reported a return of their symptoms within days.
为了测试结果，其中20人回复嚼口香糖的习惯两个星期，然后所有人表示几天后头痛发作。

Two previous studies linked gum chewing to headaches, but offered different explanations.
之前有两个关于嚼口香糖和头痛之间关系的研究，但得出完全不同的结论。

One study suggested that gum chewing causes stress to the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ - the place where the jaw meets the skull.
其中一个结论认为咀嚼口香糖的动作导致颞颌关节——下颔与头骨结合处的压力。

The other study blamed aspartame, the artificial sweetener used in most popular chewing gums.
另一个研究则归咎于阿斯巴甜——口香糖中最常见的人工甜味剂。

TMJ dysfunction has been shown to cause headaches, while the evidence is mixed on aspartame. Dr Watemberg favours the TMJ explanation.
颞骨关节功能紊乱已被证明会导致头痛，但其中的证据与阿斯巴甜有关。Watemberg医生倾向于颞骨关节功能紊乱导致头痛的结论。

Gum only has a flavour for a short period of time, suggesting it does not contain much aspartame, he says.
他说，口香糖的口味只能停留一小段时间，其中阿斯巴甜的含量不高。

If aspartame caused headaches, he reasons, there would be a lot more headaches from diet drinks and artificially sweetened products which also contain it.
如果阿斯巴甜引起头痛，那膳食饮料和其他含有阿斯巴甜的人工加糖食品会导致更多的头痛。

On the other hand, people chew gum well after the taste is gone, putting a significant burden on the TMJ, which is already the most used joint in the body, he says.
另一方面，人们在口香糖甜味消失后继续咀嚼，会给身体最常用的颞骨关节带来更多负担。

‘Every doctor knows that overuse of the TMJ will cause headaches,’ said Dr Watemberg. ‘I believe this is what's happening when children and teenagers chew gum excessively.’
他说道，“每个医生都知道颞颌关节负担过重会引起头痛，我相信青少年们过度咀嚼口香糖导致了这一状况。”