A New Study Says We Must Drink Champagne

I love it when studies tell me to drink champagne. Is that a bad sign?

A new study at Reading University is showing there may be some serious benefits to having three glasses of champagne a week. Yahoo News reports:

The compound that helps stave off forgetfulness has been found in the black grapes, Pinot noir and Pinot meunier, used for champagne.

In the words of lead researcher Jeremy Spencer: “These grapes are used in red wine and lots of research has been done on the health benefits of red wine, so I was curious to find out if there were any health attributes in champagne.”

Red wine, if consumed in modest amount, has been found to help lower blood pressure and protect the heart. This is due to the compound chemicals in vines known as flavonoids.

The memory aid found in champagne, however, is a different compound, phenolic acid.

According to a study in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “supplementation with Champagne wine (1.78”‰ml/kg BW, alcohol 12.5% vol.) for 6 weeks led to an improvement in spatial working memory in aged rodents.” Spatial working memory is “the ability to remember the location in which something is perceived, and in addition, the ability to recall a series of visited locations.”

This seems to be convincing scientists that a few glasses of champagne a week – especially for those over 40 – is beneficial; “Dementia probably starts in the 40s and goes on to the 80s. It is a gradual decline and so the earlier people take these beneficial compounds in champagne, the better,” the research said. I always thought doing crosswords and such helped improve memory and stave off dementia – but I will gladly add a glass of champagne to my crossword ritual a few days a week.

Champagne makes everything better. I kind of want a glass right now. Too bad I’m pregnant, and it’s 11 a.m.

(photo: Boule/ Shutterstock.com)