Drinking Champagne Could Help Your Memory, Says Science

Want to improve your memory? We’ve found more reasons to celebrate with champagne throughout the week, according to a University of Reading study.

The study actually came out in 2013, but British media outlets have been really excited about it recently—and for good reason. The study found that drinking champagne could help your memory.

Specifically, people who drink champagne about three times per week can have a better spatial memory, according to the Evening Standard. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that spatial memory is the memory you use to store and retrieve information that helps you get to specific, physical locations. It also helps you remember where an object is located or where an event took place.

The study, published in the Antioxidants & Redox Signaling journal, found that the phenolic compound in Pinot noir and Pinot meunier grapes used in Champagne can help prevent memory deterioration and brain diseases. Of course, the research was focused only on rats, but the researchers hope to replicate the study with people soon, according to the Evening Standard.

The study had three groups of rats complete a maze. Then, researchers fed the rats champagne daily, for six weeks. (Where do you sign up for this study?)

After the six weeks, rats who drank champagne daily were more successful at remembering how to complete the maze, which the researchers said was evidence that champagne’s properties might help combat Alzheimer’s, dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.

One of the study’s authors, Jeremy Spencer, a professor in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Reading, recommends a more moderate amount of champagne, like drinking two to three glasses a week. A previous study from the same university also found that two glasses of champagne per week might also help your heart, circulation and could reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease and stroke, according to the press release.

A spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Society told the Evening Standard that the research is “interesting,” but that “a lot more research is needed.”

Regardless, the research hasn’t been negated in the last few years, and the researchers are still working on replicating it in humans. Given the other health benefits to your heart and circulation, and these potential benefits to your brain, you should definitely pop a bottle tonight.

Photo by cyclonebill