KEY POINTS:
Having one or two glasses of wine a day may improve your memory, according to New Zealand researchers.
The study at Auckland University found alcohol could even help Alzheimer sufferers.
Even heavy drinking was given the thumbs up, but only when combined with times of heightened emotion.
In other circumstances, high levels of alcohol decreased the ability of new brain cells to develop and mature causing an impairment of memory.
"Low levels of alcohol promoted neutral memories, such as remembering objects," said Dr Maggie Kalev, one of the researchers.
"However, contrary to popular belief, we also found that excessive levels of alcohol enhanced memories of highly emotional stimuli, meaning the concept of 'drinking to forget' is unlikely to be true.
"Our work suggests that heavy drinking actually reinforces negative memories."
The study also identified the way low doses of alcohol improved memory.
Dr Kalev said a "very important" brain receptor, called an NMDA receptor, appeared to be necessary for the process.
Testing done on rats showed if they did not have enough NMDA receptors, their memory did not improve when given low alcohol doses.
However, rats which did show high numbers of NMDA receptors exhibited memory improvement when given small amounts of alcohol.
"Pathways by which memory is laid down are unclear, but NMDA receptor is critical in this process," Dr Kalev said.
"Building on this knowledge may help in the treatment of memory disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and other dementias."
The results of the study, carried out by Dr Kalev and Professor Matthew During, are published in this week's Journal of Neuroscience.
- NZPA
