A Drink a Day May Help Those With Mild Alzheimer’s Disease.

A new study recently done in Italy finds that having up to one drink of alcohol a day may delay the progression of dementia in older people already suffering from mild cognitive impairment. The study, reported in the May 22nd issue of Neurology, found that ‘…subjects who had up to one drink per day of alcohol had a 85% reduced risk of dementia compared with those who abstained.’ This applied to alcohol in general and wine in particular.

This from Reuters UK:

“While many studies have assessed alcohol consumption and cognitive function in the elderly, this is the first study to look at how alcohol consumption affects the rate of progression of mild cognitive impairment in dementia,” study authors Dr Vincenzo Solfrizzi and Dr Francesco Panza, from the University of Bari in Italy, said in a statement.

“The mechanism responsible for why low alcohol consumption appears to protect against the progression to dementia isn’t known. However, it is possible that the arrangement of blood vessels in the brain may play a role,” Solfrizzi and Panza conclude.