The ingredient that makes hot chilies² hot is called capsaicin—and it can set your mouth on fire.

让辣椒产生辣味的成分叫做辣椒素，它会让你的嘴巴冒火。

But the spicy³ compound has a soothing⁴ effect too: in your gut⁵, it kicks off a chemical cascade⁶ that might calm the immune system and reduce inflammation.

不过这种辛辣的化合物也有舒缓作用：它会在肠道中触发一种化学级联反应，这种反应可以稳定免疫系统并减少炎症。

Researchers studied that phenomenon⁷ in mice. Once inside the gut, the capsaicin molecules⁸ plugged into a specific receptor, spurring the release of another compound, called anandamide.

研究人员在小白鼠身上对这一现象进行了研究。一旦进入肠道，辣椒素分子便会进入一种特殊的受体，促进另一种名为“大麻素”的化合物的释放。

Anandamide happens to be an endocannabinoid -- similar to active ingredients in marijuana -- which binds⁹ to cannabinoid receptors in the gut.

这是一种内源性大麻素，类似于大麻中的有效成分，它会与肠道中的大麻素受体结合。

That last step in the cascade ramped¹⁰ up the production of cells that damp down inflammation in the mice -- and even cured them of a mouse model of diabetes¹¹ type 1, an autoimmune disease.

级联反应的最后一步使小白鼠体内抑制炎症的细胞数量增加，甚至治愈了患有1型糖尿病的小白鼠，1型糖尿病是一种自体免疫性疾病。

If all this sounds a bit similar to the chemical messaging that happens in the brain… that's because it is.

这些听起来可能有点像大脑中的化学消息传递，那是因为就是这样。

"The gut has a very large nervous system. It's almost as large as the brain itself," said Pramod Srivastava, an immunologist at UConn Health and one of the study's leaders.

康涅狄格大学健康中心的免疫学家、也是这项研究的负责人之一的普拉莫德·斯里瓦斯塔瓦表示：“肠道拥有一个非常庞大的神经系统。几乎和大脑的神经系统一样庞大。”

"We don't quite fully understand what this huge amount of neurons are doing in the gut. We don't understand its language, and the molecules and mediators. And I think with this work we can at least claim to have found a couple of words in that language."

“我们不完全了解肠道中的大量神经细胞有何作用。我们不懂神经细胞语言，也不了解这些分子和介质。不过我认为，至少我们通过这项研究发现了这种语言的几个单词。”

So to recap that chemical chain: chilies cause the production of endocannabinoids, which produce immune suppressant cells, which soothe¹² inflammation. So, what if you cut out the chili¹ initiator, and just eat cannabinoids—pot brownies, stuff like that?

现在来回顾一下这个化学反应链：辣椒催生内源性大麻素，内源性大麻素产生免疫抑制细胞，这种细胞缓解炎症。那么，如果去掉辣椒这个引发剂，直接获取大麻素，比如吃大麻布朗尼之类的东西，会怎样呢？

"Obviously we are very interested in people who use edible¹³ cannabinoids. I'm extremely curious if people with colitis or Crohn's disease, who are edible pot users, do they benefit from it? I have no idea. But it's something we can now find out because sizable numbers of people are consuming those edibles¹⁴."

“显然，我们对摄取可食用大麻素的人非常感兴趣。我非常好奇的是，如果患有结肠炎或克罗恩病的人食用大麻，能缓解病症吗？我并不知道答案。不过因为现在有相当多的人在服用可食用大麻，所以我们可以找出答案。”