You've probably heard that drinking champagne is actually good for your brain.
Lots of people have been sharing articles on Facebook about how drinking champagne improves memory and prevents dementia.
Wait. Drinking champagne prevents memory loss? Big, if true. Right?
Here's the thing. These articles are based on a 2013 study that was conducted in the UK at the University of Reading.
The researchers divided the rats into three different groups — one that was fed only champagne, one that was fed an isocaloric drink, and one that was fed an isocaloric drink with alcohol.
The researchers concluded that champagne-fed rats' superior performance in the maze was due to champagne's effects on the parts of the brain involved in spatial working memory. In rats.
So, hooray for rats! But what does that mean for non-rats like, for example, human beings?
BuzzFeed Life reached out to James A. Hendrix, Ph.D., director of global science initiatives at the Alzheimer's Association to ask what this study may mean for people.
Hendrix said that although this study has raised an interesting possibility — that certain molecules found in champagne may contribute to brain health — it's too early to say what the effect could be on humans.
"We need more research to really understand how to put this into context and what this could mean for human health," he said.
In fact, Hendrix said that one of the biggest challenges in Alzheimer's research is that rats and mice have not been reliably shown to predict human health — especially when it comes to Alzheimer's disease — or even the outcomes of clinical trials using human beings.
"I would love it if a glass of champagne a week prevented Alzheimer's, but as a scientist I don't think that's valid or something I can recommend people do," Hendrix said.
In conclusion, we don't have enough info to know if champagne legit improves your memory.
