WINE FOR THE MIND

SCORE ONE for wine in the ongoing health benefits debate. In a study conducted by researchers from Charité University in Berlin and published in the JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, overweight people who take resveratrol supplements have better short-term memory. Before and after the six-month study began, participants took a memory test, gave a blood sample and had their brains scanned. Twenty-three volunteers were given 2OO milligrams of resveratrol a day, while a further 23 were given a placebo. Researchers found that those who took the supplements had better short-term recall and more connections among brain areas involved in memory than those who took a placebo. “The study is the first to show a link between the red wine compound and cognition in overweight adults,” researcher Veronica Witte said. The blood tests showed reduced levels of a blood sugar marker in the people who took resveratrol, which suggests that sugar metabolism may be linked to brain connectivity and memory. But the compound remains controversial in the medical community. A recent study from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore found that resveratrol’s health benefits are a “myth”. Monitoring a group of 783 elderly Italians over the course of 16 years, the study found that it was not associated with reducing inflammation, cardiovascular disease or cancer, or living a longer life. Nevertheless, the antioxidant is increasingly being used by skincare companies due to its anti-ageing properties.