New YORK — A glass of wine every day could be the secret to keeping a brighter mind in old age.
MailOnline
Moderate drinking was found to improve memory and learning skills in a long-term study of elderly people.
The research claims that the benefits only begin to emerge after middle age.
However, not everyone will feel the benefits of a daily tipple.
While about 80% of pensioners will do better with a drink, an unlucky 20% will not.
In fact, a regular drink will put this group’s cognitive abilities into reverse because their DNA includes a gene called Apoe e4, which is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
The study, published in the journal Alcohol And Alcoholism, states: “Light and moderate alcohol consumption during late life was associated with greater decline in learning and memory among Apoe e4 carriers.
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“Whereas light and moderate alcohol consumption was associated with an increase in learning and memory among non-Apoe e4 carriers.”
The study said there were “several mechanisms” that may explain the relationship between alcohol and ability to think clearly.
These include alcohol’s anti-inflammatory properties and the fact that moderate consumption has been known to protect against dementia, stroke, coronary heart disease and Type II diabetes.
The study, by the Universities of Kentucky and Maryland, continued: “Apoe e4 is a widely accepted genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease [and] is also associated with lower cognition among non-demented older adults.”
Paul Green, from the lifestyle company Saga, said: ‘There’s no doubt a tipple or two can take the edge off the ageing process. Our own research shows that the over-50s are sensible drinkers and you don’t get to a certain age in life without knowing your limits.
“But if more work was done to find out who carries the Apoe e4 gene then it could encourage people to better protect their health by reining in how much they consume.”
The study examined 619 US pensioners aged 69 to 92 in Framingham, Massachusetts.
They are part of a long-term health-monitoring project which began in 1948.
Their drinking habits and cognitive faculties were tracked from mid-life to the present day.
Researchers found that the effects of alcohol were largely determined by whether or not a person possessed the e4 variant of the Apoe gene, which helps regulate cholesterol in the body.
Among the 22% who were found to be carriers, teetotallers fared markedly better in tests charting decline in brain function.
However, for the 78% who did not possess e4, those who enjoyed alcohol showed more resilient learning and memory abilities than those who abstained.
