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...A drink to good health.
Daily consumption of alcohol has been shown to help prevent heart disease and strokes, may also help ward off Alzheimers disease and other types of dementia, a new study says. The study , published this week in the Lancet medical journal, also found that it doesn't seem to matter what people drink. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence for the health benefits of moderate drinking, defined as one to three drinks a day. Scientists at Erasmus University in Rotterdam conducted a six-year study of 5,395 people age 55 and older who did not have signs of dementia. By the end of the study, 197 of the participants had developed Alzhemers or another form of dementia. Those who fared best drank one to three drinks a day. They had a 42% lower risk of dementia than the non-drinkers. Those who weren't daily drinkers but had more than one drink per week had a 25% lower risk and those who drank less than a glass a week were 18% less likely than non-drinkers to develope dementia. Researchers suggested the blood-thining and choleserol-lowering properties of ethanol in alcoholic drinks may ward off dementia, which is often caused by a blood vessel problem. Another possibility is that low levels of alcohol could stimulate the release of acetylcholine, a brain chemical believed to facilitate learning and memeory. [img]smile.gif[/img]
[ 01-25-2002: Message edited by: *\Conan/* ]
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