大家都說巧克力能讓人的心情好起來，你可知道巧克力還能提高性欲嗎？科學家發現，巧克力中有一種名為kisspeptin的激素可以令男人的性欲大增，這種提取物有望成為“精神偉哥”。

A hormone found in chocolate could be the 'mental Viagra' that helps to get couples in the mood for sex.
在巧克力中發現一種堪稱“精神偉哥”的激素，可以讓愛侶們性欲大增。

Kisspeptin, which is found in chocolate, is the hormone in the brain which kickstarts puberty.
巧克力中發現的這種激素名為kisspeptin，也是大腦中催動青春期的激素。

And it may explain something about the behaviour of teenage boys, after scientists found it makes men much more interested in sex and relationships.
科學家們發現，這種激素讓男人更熱衷性生活和男女關系，也能在一定程度上解釋青春期男孩的行為。

Young men injected with the hormone and then given brain scans showed a flurry of activity in the parts of the brain activated by sexual arousal and romance.
被注射了這種激素的年輕男子大腦經過掃描發現，在被性喚起和浪漫事物激活的大腦部位有波動。

It means similar injections could be used to help men to start a family.
這意味著注射同樣的激素可以用來幫助男性繁衍后代。

Professor Waljit Dhillo, the lead author of the research from Imperial College London, said: 'Our initial findings are novel and exciting as they indicate that kisspeptin plays a role in stimulating some of the emotions and responses that lead to sex and reproduction.
該研究的首席作者、倫敦帝國學院的沃爾吉特?迪洛教授說：“初期研究結果顯示，kisspeptin能激起導致性行為和生育的一些情感和反應，這一發現新奇又令人振奮。

'Ultimately, we are keen to look into whether kisspeptin could be an effective treatment for psychosexual disorders, and potentially help countless couples who struggle to conceive.'
“最終，我們將積極研究kisspeptin能否成為治療性心理障礙的有效方法，從而可能幫助無數生育困難的夫婦脫離苦海。”

One in 10 men in the UK are believed to have sexual problems, many suffering a lack of libido caused by relationship issues, stress and anxiety.
據認為，十分之一的英國男人都有性問題，感情問題、壓力和焦慮等因素導致許多男性缺乏性欲。

This can cause problems for couples trying for a child and advised to have regular sex throughout the month.
而缺乏性欲對于那些想要小孩、被建議每月定期進行性生活的夫婦來說則是個困擾。

But kisspeptin is hoped to hold the answer, following a trial involving 29 healthy young men.
在29個健康年輕男子身上進行試驗后發現，kisspeptin有望解決這一難題。

Those injected with kisspeptin, discovered in the mid-1990s in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and named after sweets from the city called Hershey's Chocolate Kisses, reacted differently to sexual and non-sexual romantic pictures of couples.
那些注射了kisspeptin的男子對自己看到的夫婦色情圖片和非色情圖片的反應是不同的。Kisspeptin于20世紀90年代中期在賓夕法尼亞州的好時鎮被發現，并以該市出產的好時之吻巧克力糖果的名字命名。

In an MRI scanner, where their brains were monitored, there was greater activity in the parts of the brain typically activated by sexual arousal and romance than the men given a placebo.
核磁共振掃描發現，被注射kisspeptin的男性大腦中會被性喚起和浪漫事物激活的部位比那些服用安慰劑的男性有更大幅度的活動。

The effect is likely to come from kisspeptin's role in starting puberty, by stimulating the release of reproductive hormones.
產生這一效果很可能是因為kisspeptin能夠刺激生殖激素的釋放，正如kisspeptin催動青春期時的作用一樣。

英文來源：每日郵報
翻譯&編輯：丹妮