According to the Daily Telegraph of October 31, a new study has revealed that eating almonds can help the body to fight off viral infections such as the common cold and flu.

据英国《每日电讯报》10月31日报道，一项最新研究发现，吃杏仁可以帮助人体抵抗普通感冒和流感病毒的入侵。

The scientists, who are based at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich and the Policlinico Universitario （University Hospital）in Messina, Italy, said they found almond skins improved the ability of the white blood cells to detect viruses while also increasing the body's ability to prevent viruses from replicating¹ and so spreading inside the body.

来自诺维奇食品研究所和意大利莫西拿大学医学院的研究人员称，他们发现食用杏仁皮能提高人体白血细胞的活性和检测病毒的能力，从而加强人体抵抗病毒的能力，防止病毒在人体内的复制和传播。

They also said that although more research has to be carried out to determine how much almond should be eaten for an effect to be reached, it is likely that eating almonds regularly could help protect people from becoming infected with viruses in the first place, while it could also help those already infected to fight off their illness.

研究人员还说，尽管仍需进行更多研究来检测需要食用多少杏仁才能达到抵御病毒的效果，但平时多吃杏仁确实可以帮助人们在第一时间防止病毒入侵，同时也可以帮助已经感染病毒的病人与疾病做斗争。

They tested the immune response to infection by the Herpes Simplex Virus 2, which can cause cold sores and is a notoriously difficult virus to treat due to its ability to evade² the immune system by dampening down the body's inflammatory response.

他们检测出免疫系统能够对抗由单纯疱疹病毒1型引发的传染病，这种病毒可以产生唇疱疹，是一种很难治疗顽固性病毒，它通过抑制人体炎症反应，进而破坏人体免疫系统。

They found that almond skin extracts were effective against even this virus.

他发现杏仁皮里面的提取物也具备抗病毒效果。

The researchers say they are still to identify exactly what it is in almond skins that cause the antiviral activity, but they believe it could be due to compounds known as polyphones.

研究人员称他们仍需要确定杏仁皮里何种成分激发抗病毒活性，但是他们认为可能是由于多酚类成分使杏仁皮具有抗病毒能力。