揭秘:裹在香蕉上的那一根根韌絲有什麼用?

剝香蕉的時候，你有沒有為裡面的韌絲煩惱過？直接扯掉還是吃了？有沒有想過香蕉為什麼要長這些韌絲呢？美國學者表示，這些韌絲是為了傳輸營養物質而存在，完全可以食用，而且也同樣富含營養。

Bananas are a wonderful source of potassium and are the perfect on-the-go snack.
香蕉是鉀元素的絕佳來源，也是完美的便攜零食。

The only downside to the fruit are those irritating leathery strands - which are actually called 'phloem bundles' - that you get when you peel back a banana skin.
唯一的缺點是剝開香蕉皮時讓人厭煩的韌絲，其實這是「韌皮束」。

But while those stringy bits may not be the most palatable, they are in fact very important - and we wouldn't be able to eat bananas without them, according to Nicholas D. Gillitt, a US academic who shed some light on the mystery this week in a report by Huffington Post.
根據美國學者尼古拉斯•D•吉略特所言，儘管這些韌絲可能不是最美味的，但其實它們很重要。沒有它們的話我們就無法吃到香蕉。本周在《赫芬頓郵報》的一篇報導中，他向大家揭開了這一秘密。

The clue as to why those strands are so important is in their name.
為什麼這些韌絲如此重要？答案就隱藏在名字裡。

Phloem is one of two types of transport tissue that you can find in all plants, and moves nutrients and other substances around the whole plant.
植物的韌皮部是兩種運輸組織之一，存在於所有植物中，它們在整株植物中傳輸營養素和其他物質。

In a banana, the phloem strands are therefore the reason why all the nutrients can reach the whole of the fruit - which allows it to grow into the fruit we know of.
香蕉中的「韌皮束」可以將各種營養素傳輸到各個部位，長成我們所熟知的香蕉的樣子。

Nicholas D. Gillitt, who is vice president of nutrition research and director at the Dole Nutrition Institute explained to Huffington Post: 'Phloem bundles are necessary for the adequate disposition of nutrients throughout the plant.'
尼古拉斯對《赫芬頓郵報》解釋說：「韌皮束對於在整個香蕉中的營養素配置非常必要。」他是多爾營養研究所的營養研究副主席兼主管。

The phloem bundles are completely edible and are just as nutritionally rich as the main part of the fruit, according to Dr Gillitt.
他說，韌皮束完全可以食用，和香蕉主要部分一樣富含營養。

In fact, the strands probably contain a lot more fibre than the rest of the fruit, he says.
他說，和香蕉的其他部分相比，韌絲中含有的纖維可能更多。

It is possible to genetically modify the fruit to prevent strands from forming - but Gillitt says there is little point dedicating funds to research this when companies can better invest in coming up with disease-resistant food or fruit with higher nutritional content.
人們可以對香蕉進行基因改造，防止形成韌絲，但吉略特說投資進行這一研究沒有意義。把投資用來研究含有更多營養素的抗病食物或水果更好。

英文來源：每日郵報
翻譯&編審：yaning