如果你在運動后用漱口水，會發(fā)生一件奇怪的事情

如果你在運動后用漱口水，會發(fā)生一件奇怪的事情

In ads on TV, it all looks so simple. People use mouthwash, it instantly neutralises all the nasty bacteria hiding in their mouths, and – just like that – their dental hygiene is assured.

在電視廣告中，一切看起來都很簡單。人們使用漱口水，它能立即中和隱藏在嘴里的所有討厭的細菌，而且——就像那樣——他們的牙齒衛(wèi)生得到了保證。

But what's really going on when you rinse a cap-load of antibacterial chemicalsaround your mouth? What does that to your body, and to other kinds of microorganisms that may actually be beneficial to health?

但是，當你漱口時，口腔周圍的抗菌化學物質會發(fā)生什么呢?這對你的身體和其他可能對健康有益的微生物有什么好處?

As a new study shows, the downstream effects can be surprising, and far-reaching too, affecting much more than just your dental wellbeing.

一項新的研究表明，這種副作用不僅會影響你的牙齒健康，還會帶來意想不到的深遠影響。

In an experiment led by scientists from the UK and Spain, researchers found that the simple act of using mouthwash after exercising can reduce one of the benefits of exercise: lowering blood pressure.

在一項由英國和西班牙科學家領導的實驗中，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，運動后使用漱口水會降低運動的一個好處:降低血壓。

When you exercise, your blood vessels open in response to the production of nitric oxide, which increases the diameter of blood vessels. This process is called vasodilation, and it increases blood flow circulation to active muscles.

當你鍛煉時，血管會隨著一氧化氮的產生而打開，一氧化氮會增加血管的直徑。這一過程被稱為血管舒張，它增加了活躍肌肉的血液循環(huán)。

For a long time, researchers thought this only happened during exercise, but in more recent years, evidence has shown that circulation stays high (meaning blood pressure is lowered) even after exercise – thanks to how bacteria interact with a compound called nitrate, which forms when nitric oxide degrades.

很長一段時間以來，研究人員一直認為這只發(fā)生在運動期間，但近年來，有證據(jù)表明，即使在運動之后，血液循環(huán)仍然保持高水平(意味著血壓降低)——這要歸功于細菌與一種名為硝酸鹽的化合物的相互作用，這種化合物是在一氧化氮降解時形成的。

"Research over the last decade has shown that nitrate can be absorbed in the salivary glands and excreted with saliva in the mouth," explains physiology specialist Raul Bescos from Plymouth University.

普利茅斯大學的生理學專家勞爾·貝斯科斯解釋說：“過去十年的研究表明，硝酸鹽可以在唾液腺中被吸收，并隨唾液一起在口腔中排出。”

"Some species of bacteria in the mouth can use nitrate and convert into nitrite – a very important molecule that can enhance the production of nitric oxide in the body."

“口腔中的一些細菌可以利用硝酸鹽并轉化為亞硝酸鹽——這是一種非常重要的分子，可以增強體內一氧化氮的生成。”

Once nitrite is produced and swallowed with saliva, it becomes absorbed into blood circulation and reduces back to nitric oxide, which keeps blood vessels wide and lowers blood pressure.

一旦亞硝酸鹽產生并與唾液一起吞咽，它就會被血液循環(huán)吸收，并還原為一氧化氮，從而保持血管擴張，降低血壓。

But according to this small study, it looks like this biological mechanism can be significantly interrupted if anti-bacterial mouthwash gets added into the post-exercise mix.

但根據(jù)這項小型研究，如果在運動后的混合液中加入抗菌漱口水，這一生物機制似乎會被明顯打斷。

In an experiment, 23 healthy adults ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes. After the workout, the participants were asked to rinse their mouth with either an antibacterial mouthwash or a mint-flavoured placebo.

在一項實驗中，23名健康成年人在跑步機上跑了30分鐘。訓練結束后，參與者被要求用抗菌漱口水或薄荷味安慰劑漱口。

These mouth rinses occurred immediately after the exercise, and also at 30, 60, and 90 minutes after.

運動后馬上漱口，和在30、60和90分鐘后漱口分別進行了實驗。

The participants also had their blood pressure taken during the experiment, immediately after the exercise, and during their rest period.

在實驗期間、運動后和休息期間，參與者還測量了血壓。

The results showed that at one hour after the treadmill session, average reduction in systolic blood pressure in the placebo group was –5.2 mmHg (millimetres of mercury).

結果顯示，在跑步機訓練后1小時，安慰劑組的收縮壓平均降低-5.2 mmHg(毫米汞柱)。

The reduction in the mouthwash-using group was much lower, showing an average of –2.0 mmHg at the same point in time, suggesting the use of the antibacterial mouthwash (0.2 percent chlorhexidine) had lowered the systolic blood pressure reduction by over 60 percent.

使用漱口水組的血壓下降幅度要低得多，在同一時間點的平均值為-2.0 mmHg，這表明使用抗菌漱口水(0.2%氯己定)降低了60%以上的收縮壓。

At the end of the monitoring window, two hours after the treadmill session, the mouthwash group showed no sign of blood pressure reduction stemming from the exercise, whereas the placebo group still showed a significant reduction compared to their pre-exercise values.

在監(jiān)測窗口結束時，跑步機訓練兩小時后，漱口水組沒有因運動而出現(xiàn)血壓下降的跡象，而安慰劑組與運動前相比仍有顯著下降。

"This is the first evidence showing that the nitrate-reducing activity of oral bacteria is a key mechanism to induce the acute cardiovascular response to exercise during the recovery period in healthy individuals," the authors explain in their paper.

作者在他們的論文中解釋說：“這是第一個證據(jù)表明，口腔細菌降低硝酸鹽的活性是導致健康個體在康復期間對運動產生急性心血管反應的關鍵機制。”

While it's only a small study, it serves as an important reminder of how not all bacteria are necessarily bad for us – and that ingesting antibacterial chemicals that indiscriminately terminate mouth-dwelling microbes could hamper important biological processes necessary for good health.

雖然這只是一項小規(guī)模的研究，但它卻提醒我們，并非所有的細菌都對我們有害，而且攝入不加選擇地終止口腔微生物的抗菌化學物質，可能會妨礙健康所必需的重要生物過程。

"These findings show that nitrite synthesis by oral bacteria is hugely important in kick-starting how our bodies react to exercise over the first period of recovery, promoting lower blood pressure and greater muscle oxygenation," says one of the team, nutritionist Craig Cutler.

研究小組的一位營養(yǎng)學家克雷格·卡特勒說：“這些發(fā)現(xiàn)表明，口腔細菌合成亞硝酸鹽對于啟動我們身體在第一個恢復期對運動的反應、促進低血壓和肌肉氧合非常重要。”

"In effect, it's like oral bacteria are the 'key' to opening up the blood vessels. If they are removed, nitrite can't be produced and the vessels remain in their current state."

“實際上，口腔細菌是打開血管的‘鑰匙’。如果去除了亞硝酸鹽，就不能產生亞硝酸鹽，容器仍保持當前狀態(tài)。”

The findings are reported in Free Radical Biology and Medicine.

這一發(fā)現(xiàn)發(fā)表在《自由基生物學和醫(yī)學》雜志上。