Beer better for brain, wine a worry

DOWNING beers and spirits is healthier for your memory and sense of direction than quaffing wine - but not drinking any alcohol is healthiest, according to new research.

German scientists have discovered that drinking wine caused more damage to the part of the brain which provides memory and spatial awareness than most other forms of alcohol, UK newspaper the Daily Mail reported.

The Gottingen University researchers said in an article in the Alcohol and Alcoholics journal that the hippocampus area in the brain was up to 10 per cent smaller in alcoholics compared to “healthy” adults.

The hippocampus, which is associated with memory, is also one of the first regions of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease, the Mail reported.

According to the researchers, the average size of the hippocampus in non-alcoholics was 3.85ml – but for wine drinkers, it was just 2.8ml.

Both beer drinkers (3.4ml) and spirit drinkers (2.8ml) had a larger hippocampus on average than those that consume wine.

The researchers said in the journal article that very little was known about which drinks were more harmful for the brain.

Read the entire article: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23390430-401,00.html