Web Log: Red wine is (sort of) good for your brain

We’ve all been told that alcohol kills off brain cells and this is more or less true. Brain cells die all the time and new ones are generated to replace them. What alcohol does is it decreases neurogenesis, or the growth rate of new cells. Here’s the good news: red wine contains a compound called resveratrol that somewhat helps with reversing the effect of the alcohol.

This is one of the many fascinating facts delivered by neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret for a recent Ted talk. Thuret goes on to explain that we all have the power to grow new brain cells and we can do this every day by exercising more, getting enough sleep, cutting down on high-fat food and even eating crunchy stuff (a Japanese study found that food requiring more chewing is good for neurogenesis).

So to those who go on the lash, end up at the chippers and get just a few hours sleep before dragging themselves into work: you’re not just hungover, you’ve killed lots of potential brain cells.

http://www.ted.com/talks/sandrine_thuret_you_can_grow_new_brain_cells_here_s_how/transcript?language=en