It is food news guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

这则食品新闻肯定会让你喜笑颜开。

Scientists have found that eating dark chocolate appears to lower the risk of depression by four fold.

科学家发现，吃黑巧克力或能将患抑郁症的风险降低四分之三。

While 7.6 percent of the 13,000 people surveyed reported depressive symptoms, just 1.5 percent of the chocolate eaters did.

在接受调查的1.3万人中，曾出现抑郁症状的人比例为7.6%，而仅有1.5%的吃巧克力的人曾出现抑郁症状。

The study by University College London (UCL), the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services Canada, also found that the people who consumed the most of any chocolate were also 57 percent less likely to report depressive symptoms.

英国伦敦大学学院、加拿大卡尔加里大学和阿尔伯塔省卫生服务局开展的这项调查还发现，食用任何种类巧克力最多的人出现抑郁症状的可能性比其他人要低57%。

Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson, of UCL's Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, said: "This study provides some evidence that consumption of chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, may be associated with reduced odds¹ of clinically relevant depressive symptoms.

该研究首席作者、伦敦大学学院流行病学与医疗保健研究所的莎拉·杰克逊博士说：“这项研究提供了一些证据以证明吃巧克力——尤其是黑巧克力——可能与降低临床相关抑郁症状的几率有关。”

"Should a causal relationship demonstrating a protective effect of chocolate consumption on depressive symptoms be established, the biological mechanism² needs to be understood to determine the type and amount of chocolate consumption for optimal³ depression prevention and management."他说：“一旦建立起证明吃巧克力对抑郁症状具有防护作用的因果关系，我们就必须明白其生物机制，以确定巧克力的种类和数量，从而得出预防和治疗抑郁症的最佳方案。”

The study is the first to examine the association with depression according to the type of chocolate consumed.

这是首个根据所吃巧克力的种类来研究与抑郁症关系的研究。

The team assessed data from 13,626 adults from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

研究小组评估了来自美国全国健康和营养调查中13626名成年人的数据。

A range of other factors including height, weight, marital⁴ status, ethnicity, education, household income, physical activity, smoking and chronic⁵ health problems were also taken into account to ensure the study only measured chocolate's effect on depressive symptoms.

研究人员还考虑了身高、体重、婚姻状况、种族、教育程度、家庭收入、体育活动、吸烟和慢性健康问题等其他多种因素，以确保这项研究只衡量巧克力对抑郁症状的影响。

After adjusting for these factors, it was found that individuals who reported eating any dark chocolate in two 24-hour periods had 70 percent lower odds of reporting clinically relevant depressive symptoms in the previous two weeks than those who reported not eating chocolate at all.

根据上述因素调整之后，研究发现，与不吃巧克力的人相比，任意两天内吃过黑巧克力的人在此前两周出现临床相关抑郁症状的几率要低70%。

Most recent figures show that around 19.7 percent of people in Britain aged 16 and over showed symptoms of anxiety or depression.

最新数据显示，英国16岁及以上人群中，大约19.7%的人曾出现焦虑或抑郁症状。

Chocolate contains a number of psychoactive ingredients which produce a feeling of euphoria similar to that of cannabinoid, found in cannabis.

巧克力含有很多精神活性成分，这些成分可产生类似于大麻中的大麻素带来的兴奋感。

It also contains phenylethylamine, a neuromodulator which is believed to be important for regulating people's moods.

它还含有苯基乙胺，这种神经调节物质被认为对调节情绪很重要。

Dark chocolate also has a higher concentration of flavonoids, antioxidant chemicals which lower inflammation and can prevent the onset⁶ of depression.

黑巧克力还含有较高浓度的类黄酮，这种抗氧化剂可以减轻炎症，还能防止出现抑郁。

However British scientists urged caution about the findings, suggesting that the decision to eat dark chocolate could be linked to other health factors. For example people who choose dark chocolate may be more health conscious in general, which is known to protect against depression.

不过，英国科学家敦促人们谨慎对待这一发现，并称吃黑巧克力的决定可能与其他健康因素有关。例如，一般来说，选择黑巧克力的人可能更有健康意识，这也可以预防抑郁。

Depressed⁷ people are also more likely to crave⁸ more sugary fatty foods and so could be less likely to pick a dark alternative when choosing chocolate.

抑郁的人也更有可能想吃更多的高糖高脂食物，因此在选择巧克力时，他们不太可能选择黑巧克力。

The research was published in the journal Depression and Anxiety.

这项研究发表在《抑郁和焦虑》期刊上。