Skip to main content

Want to keep your memory? Drink champagne

Pro tips on how to serve & enjoy Champagne
You don’t have to wait for special occasions to pop bottles of bubbly anymore, unless you consider the everyday maintenance of your memory a special occasion. Either way, champagne lovers everywhere now have a new reason to celebrate — champagne itself. According to a 2013 study that has resurfaced to great pomp and circumstance, drinking three glasses of champagne a week could help prevent memory loss and protect your brain from diseases like Alzheimers and dementia. I’ll most definitely toast to that.

The study, conducted two years ago at the University of Reading, notes “that the phenolic compounds found in champagne can improve spatial memory, which is responsible for recording information about one’s environment, and storing the information for future navigation.” Thanks to the two red grape varietals, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, used to produce the alcohol, champagne is relatively high in these phenolic compounds when compared to white wine. Red wine has also been shown to have similar health benefits, but those are attributed to flavonoids, described as “a group of plant metabolites thought to provide health benefits through cell signaling pathways and antioxidant effects.”

Related Videos

Champagne, on the other hand, “which lacks flavonoids, is also capable of influencing brain function through the actions of smaller phenolic compounds, previously thought to lack biological activity,” said Professor Jeremy Spencer of the University of Reading’s Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences.

Of course, even back in 2013, researchers were cautious about encouraging the general public to imbibe. “We encourage a responsible approach to alcohol consumption,” Spencer added, “and our results suggest that a very low intake of one to two glasses a week can be effective.”

Unfortunately, while the original paper published on the subject promised testing of the champagne results in humans (sign me up for that study), no such experiment has yet been conducted, so it’s still unclear as to whether these phenolic compounds really do help Alzheimers and dementia patients. England’s National Health Service was alarmed by the viral resurfacing of the study, and issued a warning on Monday noting that there was “no hard evidence champagne can prevent dementia.”

So as ever, take these results with a grain of salt. But keep your fingers crossed for more definitive results in the future.

Editors' Recommendations

You’ll be ordering food with QR code menus long after the pandemic ends
A QR code opens a digital restaurant menu

Dining out at a restaurant used to be a break from busy routines -- and technology. It was a faux pas to spend a meal staring at your phone. But with coronavirus continuing to spread across the U.S., dining at a restaurant is now a potentially risky decision. Plastic shields guard the host stand and your friendly waiter’s face is now half-covered by a mask. The solution to a more enjoyable and safer experience could be the very thing you tried to avoid when dining, however: Your phone.

QR codes are experiencing a comeback as a way to eliminate shared menus which could spread the virus between customers -- and your dining experience may never be the same.
How QR code menus work
QR codes -- which use a scannable design of black and white squares -- have been in widespread use since the mid-2010s. The code, when scanned using your smartphone’s camera, will open a link, in this case to a restaurant’s menu page.

Read more
Rapid urine test tells the truth about your diet, even if you don’t
mothers day activity guide stock photo fruit market with various colorful fresh fruits and vegetables 130707287

With various health tests already requiring a sample of it, we’ve long known that urine isn’t always something that should be simply flushed down the toilet.

The usefulness of one of our body’s waste products has just been highlighted by an international team of researchers that's created a fast urine test capable of measuring the quality of a person’s diet.

Read more
Where to buy hand sanitizer online and get it delivered in days
Hand Sanitizer

Hand sanitizer is in high demand, so forget about finding it at your local drugstore or supermarket. Retailers are only receiving small shipments, often selling out after a few minutes on the shelves. This means your best bet right now is buying online. Of course, this is a lot easier than said than done.

The majority of online retailers have run out of stock, while those who have some in the warehouse are charging through the roof. One retailer that has some in stock and hasn’t hiked its prices, though, is Well Before (formerly Honest PPE Supply), which is selling a 60ml bottle for only $2; 300ml bottle for $6; and a 500ml bottle for $8.
Buy Now

Read more