Apparently Drinking Three Glasses of Champagne a Week Is Good for Your Brain

As far as alcohol-related quotations go, Champagne has the whole game on lockdown.

Sure, George Bernard Shaw's thing about whiskey being "liquid sunshine" is nice and everyone likes the quote about alcohol as the cause and solution to life's problems, but Lily Bollinger's response to being asked the right time to drink Champagne may be the only quote worthy of all the fridge magnets and Etsy prints it spawned. Similarly, Napoleon's "in victory, you deserve Champagne, in defeat, you need it" line is way more awe-inspiring than that one about courage and strength.

There's just something about a glass of bubbly that fires up the brain cells (while simultaneously shrouding them in a pleasing fuzz.)

And now, it seems science may be in agreement with history's notable Champagne quaffers.

New research from the University of Reading claims that drinking three glasses of Champagne a week can help prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

This is down to a compound found in the black Pinot noir and Pinot meunier grapes used to make Champagne, which is said to prevent the onset of brain diseases. The researchers conducted their experiment on rats, concluding that those who drink the sparkling wine regularly could also boost their spatial memory.

The study's claims time pretty conveniently with the rise of England's sparkling wine industry, which some claim could grow to rival France's Champagne output.

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, the University of Reading's Professor Jeremy Spencer said: "The results were dramatic. This research is exciting because it illustrates for the first time that moderate consumption of Champagne has the potential to influence cognitive functioning such as memory."

While a spokesperson from research charity Alzheimer's Society said that the study's results were "interesting," they added that "a lot more research is needed."

OK, so we may need a little more in the way of proof than a couple of sozzled rats before we start washing down our lunchtime cheese sandwiches with a glass of Pol Roger, but that shouldn't stop us from enjoying the stuff with less of a guilty conscience.

In any case, it's like Oscar Wilde said, "pleasure without Champagne is purely artificial."