A glass of wine a day delays dementia

A glass of wine a day delays dementia
16 Dec 2007, 1238 hrs IST,PTI
NEW YORK: Wine can be food for health as long as you are smart about how you drink - one goblet daily may help in preserving your memory for long.

A study has found that a glass of wine everyday delays dementia in those who are at risk from Alzheimer's disease as they are already having memory problems.

"While many studies have assessed alcohol consumption and cognitive function in the elderly, this is the first study to look at how alcohol consumption affects rate of progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia," according to lead researcher Vincenzo Solfrizzi of University of Bari in Italy.

Mild cognitive impairment is a transitional stage between normal ageing and dementia used to classify people with mild memory problems and no significant disability.

The researchers came to the conclusion after they evaluated alcohol consumption and the incidence of mild cognitive impairment in a group of 1,445 people aged between 65 and 84 years.

The team then followed 121 people with mild cognitive impairment and their progression to dementia.

The researchers found that those with mild cognitive impairment who had up to one drink of alcohol a day, mostly wine, developed dementia at an 85 per cent slower rate than people with mild cognitive impairment who never drank alcohol.

"The mechanism responsible for why low alcohol consumption appears to protect against the progression to dementia isn't known. However, it is possible that the arrangement of blood vessels in the brain may play a role in why alcohol consumption appears to protect against dementia.

"This would support other observations that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol may protect the brain from stroke and vascular dementia," Solfrizzi said.