There have been many studies circling around the Internet for years about drinks and foods that can prevent a multitude diseases, anything from cancer to mental diseases. And just like that, a new study says drinking champagne can prevent Alzheimer's and improve memory.
Of course, everyone loves to find out that any type of alcohol can fix any problem. It makes drinking wine every night or shot gunning beers at the weekend tailgates have a little more purpose. The 2013 study is probably one you've heard recently in the news. Performed at England's University of Reading, researchers found that phenolic compounds in the grapes used to make champagne (pinot noir and pinot meunier) support proteins that have been linked to storing information in long term memory. These proteins can help brain functioning and promote learning and memory. The proteins diminish as you age and champagne was shown to delay this process. With this discovery, researchers came to the conclusion that having a few glasses of champagne a week could help prevent Alzheimer's and dementia.
Like many studies involving alcohol, it may be too good to be true. While champagne does contain the phenolic compounds as the researchers stated, the study was done on rats, not people. While many studies use rats, it's a big assumption to say the effects of champagne on rats' memory and humans' are the same. There has yet to be a study performed on humans who are susceptible to these diseases or to asses champagne on the brain.
While these findings mean great things for our future drinking habits, don't go drowning yourself in champagne (except for a little buzz if you so please.) Who knows, maybe the champagne does help and maybe it doesn't. But we'll probably keep popping bottles regardless. Bottoms up!