Wine May Help To Clean The Mind, Study Says

Consuming wine in low doses may prove to be beneficial to cleaning one's mind, new research suggests.

In a study published Friday to Scientific Reports, researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center aimed to discover the overall benefits of alcohol consumption. For the first time ever, this study proved that alcohol at low levels does possess benefits to the brain's health.

"Prolonged intake of excessive amounts of ethanol is known to have adverse effects on the central nervous system," said Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and lead author of the study, according to EurekAlert news advisory. "However, in this study, we have shown for the first time that low doses of alcohol are potentially beneficial to brain health, namely it improves the brain's ability to remove waste."

To determine their findings, researchers studied the brains of mice that had consumed low-to-moderate doses of alcohol — approximately 2.5 drinks daily — for 30 days. This was completed as a way to evaluate the impacts of acute and chronic alcohol exposure. As a result, the UR team found that low levels of alcohol helped to decrease inflammation and remove toxins, including those linked to Alzheimer's.

The study's results also showed that examined mice that weren't exposed to alcohol didn't receive the same health improvements. Control mice, however, did have identical cognitive and motor tests to mice that consumed the alcohol.

"The main finding of this study is that a low dose of ethanol, comparable to 2.6 daily drink equivalents (for a 70 kg person) per day, increases glymphatic function in mice, which is expected to facilitate clearance of metabolic waste and potentially toxic proteins from the interstitial fluid," the study read. "This beneficial effect of light alcohol intake was linked to a decreased GFAP expression in astrocytes."

As for the next step in Nedergaard's research, she confirmed to International Business Times that she hopes "to look at the effects of low-level alcohol in Alzheimer's."

The team's new findings join preexisting research that suggests alcohol does possess health benefits in low dosages. Beer was proven to be richer in thiamin and riboflavin (two B vitamins) than wines and ciders, according to a 2011 study. In a 2012 study, researchers found that young men who became moderately drunk after consuming vodka cranberries performed better on tests due to creative problem-solving.

Wine has previously been proven to provide an assortment of health benefits when consumed in moderation, which the American Heart Association classifies as one or two four-ounce glasses per day. The risk of suffering a heart attack and Type-2 diabetes, among other health conditions, is reduced through the consumption of wine at low levels.