Red wine can reduce chance of dementia, research shows

A couple of glasses of red wine a day can lower the chances of senile dementia in later life but drinking beer increases the risk, a long-term study suggests.

While regular but moderate wine drinkers were half as likely as non-drinkers to suffer from degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, the risk for beer drinkers doubled.

Scientists analysed the drinking patterns of 1,709 inhabitants of Copenhagen during the 1970s and compared their drink preferences with the occurrence of dementia in the same group more than 20 years later when they were 65 or older.

During that period, 83 of the participants had developed senile dementia. Their alcohol intake and preferences were compared with those of their contemporaries who had remained mentally alert.

Thomas Truelsen, from the Danish Institute of Preventive Medicine at the Kommunehospitalet in Copenhagen, said that wine rather than beer appeared to offer the best protection against dementia.

"It looks like red wine is the one with the best effect but it only works when there is moderate intake, between about one and three glasses a day," Dr Truelsen said.

"These results don't mean that people should start drinking wine or drink more wine than they usually do. But the results are exciting because they could mean that substances in wine reduce the occurrence of dementia," he said.

"If that's the case, we could potentially develop treatments or prevention methods based on these substances."

One theory is that flavanoids, substances naturally present in the skin of red grapes, could be involved in protecting brain tissue against deterioration or blood vessels against strokes.

The skin of grapes was removed earlier in the fermentation of white wine, which could explain why the protective effect was not seen in drinkers of white wine, Dr Truelsen said.

The study, published in the journal Neurology, did not distinguish between the different diets of the participants, which could also have been an important factor, said John Brust of Harlem Hospital Centre in New York.

"Research suggests that wine drinkers may have better dietary habits than beer and [spirit] drinkers. There is also evidence the dietary vitamin E may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's. These factors were not accounted for in this study," Dr Brust said.

"None the less, this is a provocative report providing evidence that there is indeed something specifically beneficial about wine."

- INDEPENDENT