Tue, Sep 07, 2021 page14

• Diet can fix kids’ gadget habit, says nutritionist 孩童3C成癮跟多巴胺有關！ 營養師教如何用飲食改善

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  When children are at home with nothing to do and their parents are busy, consumer electronics products may well come in handy for keeping children quiet so that their parents can get on with their work well or maybe take a breather. Nutritionists say that children’s Internet and cellphone addiction is related to dopamine. If dopamine secretion is normal, people will feel happy and joyful, but when there is not enough of it, they can easily become addicted to substances or feel depressed. One way to deal with this is to regularly stimulate the body’s synthesis of dopamine through diet.

  In a post on her Facebook page “Dietician Ivy’s health classroom,” nutritionist Ivy Hsu said that dopamine is a brain neurotransmitter responsible for pleasurable feedback. When a child uses an electronic device, the colorful scenes full of special effects and the pleasure they get from competition stimulate the secretion of dopamine, which makes the child happy. However, when parents want to control their child’s use of the electronic device, the child may suddenly become frustrated and angry, and even lose control of its emotions and get into a tantrum. This happens because the child’s dopamine secretion is comparatively inadequate, so the child needs to seek it out for pleasure, and this is what causes the phenomenon of addiction.

  Hsu said that you can in fact stimulate your body’s synthesis of dopamine by adjusting your dietary and living habits, summed up in four main points.

  

  A woman plays on a gaming phone. 一名女子用電競手機玩遊戲。

  Photo courtesy of Miclub 照片：米客邦提供

  1. Supplementation from food: Tyrosine, multivitamins (especially vitamin B6) and magnesium are the main nutrient raw materials for dopamine synthesis in the human body. Tyrosine can be derived from dairy products, meat, fish, eggs, nuts and beans. Vitamin B6 can be obtained from bananas, mangos, green vegetables, fish, pork, eggs and nuts. Magnesium can be found in grains, bananas, seaweed, nuts, tofu, dark chocolate and dark green vegetables.

  2. Eating more antioxidant food: Foods that are rich in natural antioxidants food can protect dopamine receptors from damage. Notably, the more brightly colored fruits and vegetables are, the greater their antioxidant effect generally is.

  3. Getting plenty of exercise: Exercise can increase dopamine secretion and absorption.

  

  A schoolgirl in Hualien County’s Sioulin Township uses a cellphone for distance learning. 一名小學生在花蓮縣秀林鄉用手機上遠距教學課程。

  Photo courtesy of Shueiyuan Primary School 照片:水源國小提供

  4. Adequate sleep: Dopamine secretion is reduced during sleep, so you need adequate and good-quality sleep to reduce your dopamine expenditure and consumption.

  (Translated by Julian Clegg, Taipei Times)

  孩子在家實在沒事做，家長又很忙碌的時候，3C產品往往成為讓孩子安靜不吵鬧、父母可以好好辦公甚至喘口氣的好幫手。營養師指出，孩童的網路、手機成癮其實都和多巴胺有關。如果多巴胺分泌正常，人就會感到愉悅、快樂，但缺乏時就容易對物質產生成癮，或心情低落，因此平時可透過飲食刺激體內多巴胺合成。

  營養師許育禎在臉書粉專「Ivy營養師的健康教室」發文提到，多巴胺是一種掌管喜悅回饋的腦神經傳導物，當孩子接觸3C產品後，五光十色的特效畫面和競爭時的快感會促進多巴胺的分泌，讓孩子變得開心；但當父母要控制3C的使用時，孩子就會馬上變失落、生氣，甚至無法控制情緒的吵鬧，此時就是因為多巴胺的分泌相較下不足，因此需要靠著「索討」才能讓自己開心，進而產生成癮現象。

  許育禎表示，其實在平日可以透過飲食和生活習慣刺激體內多巴胺合成，並將其大致分為四個要點。

  1. 從食物補充：酪胺酸、綜合維生素（尤其是B6）、鎂等營養素是人體合成多巴胺的主要原料。酪胺酸可在乳製品、肉類、魚類、蛋、堅果和豆類中攝取；維生素B6可從香蕉、芒果、綠色蔬菜、魚類、豬肉、蛋、堅果中攝取；鎂則可全穀類、香蕉、海帶、堅果、豆腐、黑巧克力、深綠色蔬菜中攝取。

  2. 多食用抗氧化食物：富含天然抗氧化劑的食物可防止多巴胺受體受損，尤其顏色越鮮豔的蔬果抗氧化能力越強。

  3. 多運動：運動可以提高多巴胺的分泌與吸收。

  4. 充足睡眠：睡眠時多巴胺的分泌會降低，因此睡飽、睡好才能減少多巴胺的支出與消耗。

  （自由時報）
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