Moderate Drinking May Help

People over 60 who consume moderate amounts of alcohol have a reduced risk for Alzheimers disease and other dementias. The analysis,which appeared in the July issue of The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry,reviewed 15 studies that together followed more than 28,000 subjects for at least two years. All the studies controlled for age,sex,smoking and other factors. The studies variously defined light to moderate drinking as 1 to 28 drinks per week.
Compared with abstainers,male drinkers reduced their risk for dementia by 45 per cent,and women by 27 per cent. The researchers acknowledge that studying the effects of alcohol on dementia is complicated by issues like beverage type,standards of quantity and individual behaviour that may interact with alcohol to affect mental acuity. But there is ample evidence from other studies that moderate alcohol consumption can increase HDL,or good cholesterol, improve blood flow to the brain and decrease blood coagulation. All three factors may reduce the risk for dementia. Still,the authors warn against drawing premature conclusions.

Fresh garlic for a Healthy Heart
Much has been made of the benefits of eating garlic,but is fresh-crushed better than paste? What about garlic powder? How about just popping a garlic pill?
A study by researchers at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine suggests that for certain elements of cardiac health,fresh-crushed is better than processed. Small amounts of the slurriesone with fresh-crushed garlic and the other with garlic that had been crushed but left to dry for two days,allowing hydrogen sulfide and other volatile chemicals to dissipate were force-fed to laboratory rats for 30 days. The findings were published in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
The researchers found that while both slurries provided some cardioprotective benefits,the hearts of rats that had eaten the fresh-crushed garlic had less damage and better recovery after blood flow was restricted for 30 minutes.
NYT