Three glasses of champagne a day can prevent dementia,claimed news stories last week. Enough to make anyone crackopen the Cristal. The reports were based on a study from theUniversity of Reading that was carried out three years ago butresurfaced last week via social media. The researchers foundthat drinking champagne improved spatial memory – the abilityto navigate to wherever you want to go (for example, gettinghome after the pub). Champagne contains chardonnay mixedwith pinot noir and pinot meunier, two black grapes thatcontain phenolic acids, which are thought to reduce inflammation and may protect brain cells.
上周的新聞故事宣布，一天三杯香檳可以防治痴呆。這理由足以讓人試圖打開一瓶。報告基於一項Reading大學三年前的研究，然而上周又通過社交媒體浮出水面。研究者發現喝香檳可以改進空間記憶——行駛到你想去地方的能力(比如，從酒吧到家)。香檳包含夏敦埃酒，混合著黑皮諾和莫尼耶皮諾，這是兩種包含著酚醛酸的黑葡萄，可以減少發炎，或許會保護腦細胞。
So far so good but, unless you are a rodent, there is no evidence that quaffing champagne willpreserve your cognitive function. The study was done not on humans but on 24 mature rats. Therats were divided into groups of eight and either champagne, another fizzy alcoholic drink or acarbonated soft drink was mixed into their feed. Over six weeks, researchers measured the rats』ability to get through a maze to locate a treat and found that the champagne drinkers weresignificantly better at the task.
目前看來效果不錯，但除非你是齧齒目動物，不然沒有證據表明痛飲香檳可以保護你的認知功能。這項研究並不是在人類身上實驗的，而是在24隻成熟老鼠身上。老鼠被分為八組，香檳，氣泡酒精或含二氧化碳的飲料被混合進了他們的食物中。在六周的時間內，研究者測試了老鼠通過迷宮來定位食物的能力，並發現喝香檳的老鼠明顯在任務中表現更好。
When the rats』 brains were examined under a microscope, those who had drunk champagneshowed increased amounts of proteins that stimulate the formation of nerve-cell networks and areinvolved in memory and learning. In particular, these rats had more of a protein called dystrophinin the hippocampus region of the brain, which may protect against loss of reasoning and spatialmemory.
在顯微鏡下觀察老鼠大腦時發現時，那些喝了香檳的老鼠體內蛋白質數量增加，這種蛋白質可以刺激神經細胞網絡的形成，這和記憶與學習有關。特別的是，這些老鼠的大腦海馬區具有更多的抗肌萎縮蛋白，也許可以防止邏輯推理能力和空間記憶的喪失。
However different rats are from humans, the laboratory rodent has been widely used as a modelfor human disease, especially for research into stroke, heart disease, diabetes and breast cancer.So are there implications in this study for humans? Disappointing news for champagne lovers –the rats were given just 1.78ml per kilo of body weight – the human equivalent would be one anda half flutes a week.
無論老鼠和人類有多麼不同，實驗室的齧齒目動物一直被廣泛地用作防控人類疾病的模型，尤其是對中風，心臟病，糖尿病和乳腺癌的研究。那麼這項研究對人類有啟發嗎?對於香檳愛好者來說壞消息是——老鼠只接受了體重1.78毫升每千克的量——相當於人類每星期1.5杯。
If you really want to justify a glass of champagne on health grounds, you can always quotephysicians of the 19th century, who swore it could dissolve kidney stones, cure anaemia and keepyou healthy.
如果你想證明香檳對健康有益，你可以輕易從19世紀物理學家的研究中找到證據，香檳可以溶解腎結石，治療貧血，使你保持健康。
（編輯：何瑩瑩）