Beginning to forget about things a bit more than normal? Maybe it's time to hit the bottle -- but ever so gently, please. Scientists now say that, taken in moderate amounts, red wine can improve the memory.
A research team led by Prof. Alberto Bertelli of Milan University says it has found that three glasses of red wine a day can also help protect against degenerative mental diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The working ingredient is resveratrol, a chemical found in grape skins and thus in the wine.
Bertelli says resveratrol increases the effectiveness of the neural enzyme map-kinase by up to seven times. The enzyme stimulates nerve cells to regenerate. These are the cells that are broken in neurodegenerative ailments such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
"By daily reinforcing these contacts," says Bertelli, "we can prevent neurodegeneration." His team has already tested resveratrol on human nerve cells under laboratory conditions. The next step, one expert says, is the "test the effect of good claret on human beings."
