You have heard that wine cures everything. Here’s the bad news.
If you drink wine to excess, it may be the worst choice for you. Researchers (psychiatrists) found a region of the brain in alcoholic wine drinkers was more damaged than the same region in alcoholics who prefer beer or spirits. This is the first known research that studied alcoholics with a beverage choice.
If you are a wine alcoholic, you may have a smaller brain too (sort of)!
The hippocampus--not to be confused with much larger, and purpled hippopotamuses-- shrinks more in wine drinkers with an alcohol dependency than other drinkers. The researchers reported in the medical journal Alcohol and Alcoholism the hippocampus is up to 10% smaller in wine alcoholic brains than normal brains
A smaller hippocampus will cause memory loss, navigation and spatial awareness problems (basically the same as drunkenness). The hippocampus is also the first area affected by Alzheimer’s. Women are more likely to drink wine than men, and according to the study, are also more likely to suffer the damaging brain effects.
The important information to take away from this research is over indulging to the point of alcoholism is bad. The situation is worse if you are a wino (perhaps, hence the term), and can cause lasting damage to your body. The people the researchers studied were not your wine with dinner crowd. These people were diagnosed alcoholics. So if you were planning to drink large amounts of wine to gain longevity , think again while you still can.
