Maybe Popeye was onto something when he ripped open a can of spinach for beating up the bad guys.
当大力水手为了痛打坏人而打开一罐菠菜的时候，他也许做对了。

Scientists in Germany say, edcysterone, a chemical found in spinach is close to steroids and has a similar effect on humans.
德国科学家表示，在菠菜中发现的一种化学物质Edcysterone与类固醇相似，而且对人体有类似的效果。

图片来源：视觉中国

Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin ran a 10-week test on nearly 50 athletes and found athletes who took capsules of ecdysterone increased their strength by up to three times.
柏林自由大学的研究人员对近50名运动员进行了为期10周的测试。他们发现，服用Ecdysterone胶囊的运动员的体力最多增加了三倍。

The capsules the athletes were given were the equivalent of about nine pounds of spinach but researchers say the capsules could be used as a performance enhancing drug.
交给运动员的胶囊相当于约九磅的菠菜，但研究人员表示，这种胶囊可能会成为被用作提高成绩的药物。

The study has called on the World Anti-Doping Authority to dig further into ecdysterone and wants the chemical added to the list of banned substances for athletes.
这项研究号召世界反兴奋剂机构进一步研究Ecdysterone，并希望把这种化学物质加到运动员禁用物品的清单里。

（翻译：Dlacus）