乳鐵蛋白：你的天然守護


乳鐵蛋白是一種天然存在於我們體內強大而且多功能醣蛋白 [1]。淚水、唾液、母乳等體液內，都能夠找到高濃度的乳鐵蛋白 [2,3]，尤其是分娩不久後的母乳 (每公升約含5克) [4]。高濃度的乳鐵蛋白不但有助抵禦病菌、病毒 [5]和真菌 [6]，而且能夠扮演保護的角色，保持身體健康。

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身體內的一場旅程

乳鐵蛋白作為一種運鐵蛋白，它能有效地結合和運輸鐵質，這也解釋了為何乳鐵蛋白呈淡粉紅色。 乳鐵蛋白通過在全身結合和運輸鐵質來幫助調節鐵的吸收。事實上，乳鐵蛋白是身體免疫系統重要的一部分，擔當「保護、抵禦、支持」三大角色。

  • 身體的保護者

    乳鐵蛋白對游離鐵擁有高親和力，因此能夠剝奪微生物生長所需的游離鐵並抑制其繁殖能力，從而防止出現疾病 [7]。

  • 身體的抵禦者

    研究發現，乳鐵蛋白跟細菌的表面有直接相互作用，能有助於破壞某些細菌的外膜 [8]，同時亦能協助白血球抑制细菌感染和腫瘤所造成的擴散 [9]，以及其後的組織破壞。

  • 身體的支持者

    乳鐵蛋白能夠與游離鐵結合的特性，不但有助改善腸道對鐵質的吸收，還能支持紅血球運送氧氣，減少疲勞，讓身體有足夠的能量應付日常挑戰 [10]。

「抗菌、抗病毒、抗炎、抗真菌」”四抗”效果：讓身體遠離疾病

面對各種生理和環境變化，乳鐵蛋白都能夠即時作出反應，被視為抵抗疾病第一道防線的關鍵成分 [1]。乳鐵蛋白長久以來被廣泛研究 [2]，以其有助於體內不同活動的多種機制而聞名。

  • 抗菌

    乳鐵蛋白能夠與游離鐵結合，有效地限制細菌在感染部位使用這種微量元素，從而抑制細菌生長 [13]。此外，乳鐵蛋白還可以通過非鐵依賴機制 [16] 直接破壞細菌細胞表面 [14,15]，引發細菌細胞死亡。

  • 抗病毒

    乳鐵蛋白對感染人類和動物的多種病毒 DNA和 RNA 具有很強的抗病毒活性 [18]。乳鐵蛋白有助抑制病毒的複製，減少病毒載量並減慢病毒傳播 [19]。多項科學研究指出，乳鐵蛋白對於多種病毒有一定的影響，包括愛滋病毒 [20]、2019冠狀病毒病 [21]、皰疹 [22]、丙型肝炎 [23,24]、輪狀病毒 (引起腹瀉最常見的原因) [25]、諾克病毒 [26] 等等。

  • 抗炎

    當身體遇到致病性和非致病性的損傷時 [27]，乳鐵蛋白會做出反應，將鐵及活性氧中間體運送至發炎部位及其周圍。通過這種鐵和抗氧化傳遞機制 [28]，乳鐵蛋白不僅有助於治愈炎症，還能調節身體的防禦系統 [29]，減少因過度炎症反應引起的組織損傷 [30,31]。

  • 抗真菌

    研究發現，乳鐵蛋白具有多種抗真菌功能，包括對酵母菌和霉菌的廣泛活性 [32]。乳鐵蛋白已被證明可通過刺激宿主細胞免疫機制調整抗真菌活性 [34]，並通過改變細胞表面的滲透性對真菌細胞壁造成損害 [35,36]。

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  • 腸道健康

    乳鐵蛋白能夠調節益生菌的組成、數量和平衡，促進一些益生菌菌株的成長，例如雙歧桿菌和乳酸桿菌 [27]。據研究顯示，乳鐵蛋白能夠通過平衡腸內微生態而調節新陳代謝，更能夠促進腸道健康，而腸道健康正是維持整個消化系統健康的關鍵 [28]。

  • 支持免疫健康

    乳鐵蛋白由細胞所分泌出來，能夠把先天性免疫反應及後天性免疫反應連結起來，發揮調節者的角色 [2]。除了通過上述「抗菌、抗病毒、抗炎、抗真菌、抗癌」五大方向去增強免疫反應，乳鐵蛋白本身能夠藉其刺激免疫細胞生長的能力，調節免疫細胞的活躍度，並且引導免疫細胞的移動 [30]。

  • 肌膚健康

    乳鐵蛋白抗菌和抗炎的特性，有助抑制暗瘡細菌的生長 [31]，中和過度的免疫反應，促進肌膚表面的傷口癒合，讓乳鐵蛋白成為絕佳的護膚品 [32]。

  • 骨骼健康

    乳鐵蛋白能夠刺激軟骨細胞和造骨細胞的生長和活性，直接影響骨骼的生長和再生。2016 年一個研究發現，乳鐵蛋白能夠通過誘導傷口附近的成骨細胞產生分裂作用，並激活成骨細胞的兩種激酶，從而加強骨骼的癒合過程 [33]。

  • 改善貧血症狀

    如果飲食中鐵攝取量不足，身體就無法產生足夠的紅血球。缺鐵性貧血是營養失調中最嚴重的問題之一，患者較多是女性，因為她們往往在月經期間流失鐵 [34]。作為一種能夠與鐵結合的醣蛋白，乳鐵蛋白能夠結合食物或保健產品之中的鐵，改善腸道的鐵吸收，並支持紅血球輸送氧氣，有效減少疲勞。

  • 癌症

    研究證明，乳鐵蛋白對於人類不同的癌症具有抗癌和抗轉移活性，因此乳鐵蛋白是具有潛力的抗癌媒介 [35]。多個實驗顯示，乳鐵蛋白對於乳癌 [47]、大腸癌 [48]、食道癌 [49]、肺癌 [50] 和膀胱癌 [51,52] 的抑制，具有顯著的效果。

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