Proper intake of wine, chocolate and tea can boost brain power

New York, December 24:Wine lovers have got one more reason to drink daily after a new research has found that proper intake of wine can help improve a person’s cognitive performance, with tea and chocolate also bringing benefits.

Researchers in Norway and the Oxford University have found that wine has the most remarkable effect in boosting people's cognitive performance, followed by chocolate and tea.

Experts from Oxford University's Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Oslo and Bergen in Norway studied the relation between cognitive performance and the intake of three common foodstuffs - chocolate, wine and tea, which contain flavonoids, on 2,031 older people aged between 70 and 74. flavonoids are believed to help stave off dementia.

All the study participants submitted the details of their habitual food intake and underwent a series of brain tests.

The scientists’ team found that those who consumed chocolate, wine, or tea scored better in brain tests and had significantly lower prevalence of poor cognitive performance than those who did not.

Those who regularly consumed moderate amount of alcohol scored better in all six tests than those who did not. Similarly, those who consumed four squares of dark chocolate a day performed "significantly" better in the tests than non-consumers.

Likewise, tea drinkers, who took four or five cups of tea daily, also achieved better scores in four of the tests.

Oxford University Professor David Smith said brain power was boosted only when the three foodstuffs were consumed in small amounts.

He said: "What we have shown is that foods rich in flavonoids can improve the function of the brain. Depending on how much they had consumed they got better results, although it did plateau with four squares of dark chocolate a day - about 10g. The plateau was about half a glass a day for wine and with tea it went up to about four or five cups.”

He added: "The exciting thing was that people who consumed all three did even better and had least likelihood of being cognitively impaired. These doses could certainly help, that's the implication of this study, but no more than the amounts described."

However, he warned that people should not use the findings to binge drink in the hope of boosting their cognitive performance.

The researchers also stressed that while moderate alcohol consumption helps in better cognitive function and minimizes the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and dementia, heavy alcohol intake can cause dementia and many other health problems.