A glass of wine, beer or a cocktail a day improves
memory and might be good for the brain, says a group of researchers who tracked
the cognitive effect booze had on thousands of older women over two decades.
``We tracked memory abilities in women who didn't
drink any alcohol and women who drank about a half to one drink per day,''
said Dr. Francine Grodstein, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's
Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
``We found that the women who drank a little bit
had better memory as well as less deterioration in their memory over time,
compared to the women who did not drink at all,'' Grodstein said.
Researchers at Brigham and Women's and the Harvard
School of Public Health reviewed data from 12,480 women, ages 70 to 81, who
participated in the Nurses' Health Study beginning in 1980.
The study was twice as big as any previous studies
and was the first one to look at the different types of alcoholic beverages.
``It didn't matter what the drink was - white wine,
red wine, beer or hard liquor,'' said Grodstein, the study's lead author.
While researchers said it's better not to drink
anything at all than too much, moderate drinking has its benefits. Women who
swigged less than 15 grams a day, about one drink, had better mean cognitive
scores than non-drinkers.
``For women who are moderate drinkers, I would
say there's no sound health reason to stop,'' said Dr. Meir Stampfer, one of
the study's authors. ``For women who don't drink solely out of a fear it might
damage their health, they may want to reconsider that.''
More research needs to be done on whether a drink
a day could help to prevent Alzheimer's disease, Stampfer said.
Women across town toasted the findings, to be published
in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
``Alcohol brings enjoyment as long as it's not
consumed to excess,'' said 47-year-old chef Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant.
( Patrick Lally contributed to this report. )
