Lager, Lager, Lager

Here's one for all you lager lovers out there. There's plenty of previous research into the potential health benefits of red wine. Now it seems there may be some good in plain old beer as well. Research has shown that half a pint can boost the brain ability to recall information by 20 per cent.

When asked to memorise a list of words, students who had drank half a pint of the amber nectar out did their tee-total rivals by 50 per cent, but anything over half a pint and the subjects became over confident and confused, which led to mistakes.

Director of the Northumbria University's Human Cognitive Neuroscience unit, Dr. Andrew Scholey, said, 'It seems apparent that a low dose of alcohol can actually improve memory.' Although he did go onto say that the quantity of the dose is crucial and that, 'It could also be due to the fact that, when mildly under the influence, new information can not get into the memory to store to 'displace' the stuff you've just learned.' Oh, well! Any benefit of alcohol is good news.

Friday, 24 May 2002