A Drink a Day May Improve Memory

While it's true that the evidence is not indisputable--the experiments from which it derives, for example, involved rats, not humans-- there is some suggestion that moderate alcohol consumption may improve memory. The Scientific American reports on research conducted at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, where investigators fed three groups of rats a diet consisting of 0, 2.5 or 5 percent ethanol. The 2.5 percent ethanol diet, the researchers estimated, was equivalent to a one to two drinks per day for some people or two to three for others, depending upon their size, metabolism or genetic background. Sciam reports that the animals that consumed moderate amounts of alcohol fared better on two kinds of memory tests compared with the teetotalers. Rats on a heavy alcohol diet did not do well on an object recognition test (and, in fact, showed signs of neurotoxicity), but they performed better than their normal brethren on the emotional memory task.
Read more in the Scientific American online.