KEY POINTS:
Red wine, they say, helps reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and even the common cold. Now, just in time for the party season, an Auckland researcher has discovered that a daily tipple could do wonders for your memory - and even stop the threat of Parkinsons
and Alzheimers Disease.
Smell a rat? You should.
The research was carried out on rodents but there could be a message in it for humans as well.
Auckland University post-doctoral researcher Maggie Kalev and Ohio State University lecturer Matthew During found that the equivalent of a drink or two a day actually improved the memory of laboratory rats.
"It will be greeted by a lot of people as very good news. It's nice having a drink in the evening," During told a US newspaper. "It's good for the heart and good for the brain."
The pair found that rats which drank moderate volumes of alcohol did better in memory tests than those which had no alcohol.
They think their research could possibly stave off Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease, which affect more than 30,000 New Zealanders.
Rats, they said, that had one or two drinks clearly outperformed those which drank to excess.
In one test, rats that drank in moderation showed far more interest in new objects put in their cages - in fact, they spent three times as long studying them than those rats that had drank nothing.
Results were similar with another group of rats - but these were so drunk they couldn't distinguish between old and new objects.
In another experiment, a group of rats were given a mild electric shock when they entered the cage.
A day later when the same test was performed, the rats that drank in moderation waited four times as long before entering the cage than those not given a drink.
The theory was that those rats which had had a few drinks remembered receiving the electric shock.
"Exercise builds bigger muscles, in part, by stressing muscle fibres.
"Here, you're stressing the brain and as a result it makes it stronger," During said.
The study follows new research in Australia, in which scientists believe they have found a way to stop an alcoholic's craving for a drink by blocking the action of the brain's orexin system.
They believe it could also prevent someone relapsing, and with the treatment of eating disorders.