A recent study out of Norway has reported that moderate wine consumption is associated with better brain function. Over 5000 men and women were followed for 7 years and were tested with a range of cognitive function tests. These tests revealed that those who drank wine at least 4 or more times over a two week period did better than those who drank less than one time over the same period.
Other associations between other risk factors and bad brain power like: smoking, age, diabetes, hypertension, depression and lower education levels were also made.
Which makes sense. Moderation has always been one of my “mantras”. Moderation and balance key factors in success with just about everything including health and wellness.
Before you go crazy with your wine intake each week, keep in mind a few words of caution that the authors of the study threw out there. As with any observational study, there’s a possibility that other lifestyle habits that were not controlled may affect cognitive function like diet, profession and income.
However, this isn’t the first time wine was a hero in the health promotion department. So I'm thinkin there's definitely something to it… Over the last 30 years 68 other studies including over 145,000 people from various populations have also shown that light to moderate drinking improves brain function and reduces risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and here’s why.
Polyphenols (antioxidants) in the wine and other micro-elements improve blood flow and protect again brain degenerative diseases like hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), inflammation and thickening of the blood.
Just another fine example that a little bit of the good stuff goes a long way. Do you enjoy a nice glass of Cabernet to unwind a few times per week? When I’m not conducting nutritional experiments on myself I sure do….