Nutrients found in wine may protect against mental health problems like Alzheimer’s Disease, a long-running study suggests.

The findings are based on monitoring the health status and drinking habits of around 1,500 women since 1968. Thirty-four years after the first study, 162 women had been diagnosed with dementia – but the results show that among women who drink wine, a considerably lower proportion suffered from dementia, whereas this correlation was not found among those who had reported that they regularly drank beer or liquor.

“The group that had the lowest proportion of dementia were those who had reported that the only alcohol they drank was wine,” said researcher Professor Lauren Lissner from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

The researchers were reluctant to recommend that women should begin to drink wine.

“But the correlation found is a strong one and can’t be explained by other factors that we can measure, such as education, BMI, and smoking,” said Lissner.

The researchers already knew that the drinking habits of Swedish women have changed over the last few decades. Today’s women drink more wine and liquor, but less beer, than earlier generations did. The study shows, for example, that fewer than 20 percent of middle-aged women drank wine every week in the late 1960s. Today more than half of all women of that age report that they drink wine every week.

“These findings, in combination with the fact that women today drink more wine than 40 years ago, show that it is important to continue to do research on this correlation,” said Lissner. “In future analyses we will be studying the effect on more specific types of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Other research methods will be needed in order to see what role wine and other alcoholic beverages play in the development of dementia.”

Read More on the Health Pros and Cons of Wine:

Various studies have suggested that drinking alcohol in moderation - about one drink a day - can reduce heart disease and heart attacks, raise good cholesterol and increase beneficial antioxidants. To find out more, Click Here.

But too much alcohol can be fatal. Besides immediate conditions such as skin problems, nausea and headaches, drinking carries with it serious long-term health risks. To find out more, Click Here.