HAPPINESS IN A GLASS OF WINE?

FOR MANY PEOPLE a glass of wine at the end of a stressful day is the perfect way to unwind. But there may be more to it than that as a new study claims that it functions as an antidepressant, helping to boost one’s mood. Scientists warned that, despite the new findings, they are not suggesting alcohol can be regarded as an effective treatment for depression. But they have found it produces the same neural and molecular changes as drugs that have proven to be rapidly effective. Professor Kimberly Raab-Graham, of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre, said having a few drinks can help people with clinical depression feel better. In animal experiments, alcohol followed the same biochemical pathway as rapid antidepressants. She said: “Because of the high comorbidity between major depressive disorder and alcoholism there is the widely recognized self-medication hypothesis, suggesting depressed individuals may turn to drinking as a means to treat their depression. We now have biochemical and behavioral data to support that hypothesis.” But she said the findings, published in the journal nature communications, do not at all suggest alcohol can be regarded as an effective treatment for depression. “There is definitely a danger in self-medicating with alcohol. There is a very fine line between it being helpful and harmful, and at some point during repeated use self-medication turns into addiction.” The researchers used an animal model to show a single shot of alcohol, enough to block learning and memory, worked with other brain chemicals to trigger neural activity. The changes resulted in preventing depressive symptoms in the animals that lasted for at least 24 hours. In recent years, single doses of rapid antidepressants such as Ketamine have proven capable of relieving depressive symptoms within hours. This can last for up to two weeks, even in individuals who are resistant to traditional antidepressants. Raab-Graham added: “Additional research is needed in this area, but our findings do provide a biological basis for the natural human instinct to self-medicate.”