Does Red Wine Reduce Alzheimer's Risk?

A recent study that included mice suggests that red wine consumption may reduce the risk of Alzheimers, but it is too soon to know if the findings apply to people. The research included mice only.

The data supports the theory that one daily drink of red wine for women and two for men MAY HELP REDUCE Alzheimer's risk according to the researchers, which included Jun Wang, PhD, of the psychiatry department at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Here's an exerpt of their press release:

A new study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine has found that moderate red wine consumption in a form of Cabernet Sauvignon may help reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The study entitled “ Moderate Consumption of Cabernet Sauvignon Attenuates β-amyloid Neuropathology in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease” is in press, and will be published in the November 2006 issue of The FASEB Journal. The breakthrough study will also be presented at the “Society for Neuroscience Meeting” held in Atlanta, Georgia, October 14-18, 2006.

“ Our study is the first to report that moderate consumption of red wine in a form of Cabernet Sauvignon delivered in the drinking water for ~7 months significantly reduces AD-type β-amyloid neuropathology, and memory deterioration in ~11-month-old transgenic mice that model AD,” reported researchers Dr. Giulio Maria Pasinetti and Dr. Jun Wang at Mount Sinai. “This study supports epidemiological evidence indicating that moderate wine consumption, within the range recommended by the FDA dietary guidelines of one drink per day for women and two for men, may help reduce the relative risk for AD clinical dementia.”

Hat tip to WebMD for alerting us to this research.