Wine News

New Japanese research could explain why drinking wine appears to prevent the onset of Alzheimer's. Scientists have found compounds that inhibit an enzyme implicated in the disease.

Dr Michikatsu Sato, based at a government-funded alcohol R&D centre, has uncovered small peptides present in both red and white wines that inhibit the PEP enzyme, implicated in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. It is still unknown if these peptides can be extracted from wine and whether they have a preventative effect on the disease in humans. But the research, to be presented next month at the World Nutra Conference in San Francisco, offers some hope for the increasing numbers of elderly with memory loss and Alzheimer's.

There are currently nearly 18 million people with dementia in the world, and the most common cause of this dementia is Alzheimer's disease. By 2025 this figure will rise to 34 million, with 71% of these likely to live in developing countries. The findings support previous evidence that people who drink alcohol regularly have a lower risk of the disease and other types of senility.