The best excuse to drink a glass of red wine you'll see today

Another day, another reason to reach for a glass of red. New research suggests an antioxidant called resveratrol found in red grapes (and hence wine), some berries and peanuts can help improve memory.

It had previously been thought resveratrol could help fight heart disease, and now neuroscientists at Texas A&M University have found its anti-inflammatory properties can also help improve memory function, ability to learn and mood.

To find this out scientists gave resveratrol to a group of aged rats and a placebo to a control group, in a study published in *Scientific Reports.*

“The study provides novel evidence that resveratrol treatment in late middle age can help improve memory and mood function in old age,” lead author Professor Ashok Shetty said. "For control rats who did not receive resveratrol, spatial learning ability was largely maintained but ability to make new spatial memories significantly declined between 22 and 25 months. By contrast, both spatial learning and memory improved in the resveratrol-treated rats.”

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