Just when you thought all champagne was good for was a pounding morning-after headache and zero recollection of the night before, science has once again proven you wrong. Apparently three glasses of bubbly a week may actually counteract the memory loss associated with ageing.
Scientists at the University of Reading have shown that the phenolic compounds found in champagne can improve spatial memory, responsible for recording information about your environment and storing it for future navigation.
As we age, our memory storage becomes less efficient but the compounds in champagne modulate signals in the hippocampus and cortex, favourably altering the number of proteins linked to effective memory storage and as such, delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, like dementia.
Champagne isn't the only guilty pleasure that can have a positive effect on our brains, polyphenol-rich foods like blueberry and cocoa have also shown to prevent or delay memory loss.
However, do proceed with caution on your champers intake, as researcher Dr. David Vauzour suggests, “We encourage a responsible approach to alcohol consumption, but our results suggest that a very low intake of one to two glasses a week can be effective.”
Cheers to that.