--- title: Preventing Alzheimer's: How Red Wine May Slow Brain Decline description: Nothing can stop the brain’s slow decline in Alzheimer’s disease, but the latest study hints that something in red wine may slow it down canonical: https://time.com/4032194/red-wine-alzheimers/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-14T13:33:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:59.946Z article:section: Health og:title: How a Compound in Red Wine Might Slow Alzheimer’s og:description: Nothing can stop the brain’s slow decline in Alzheimer’s disease, but the latest study hints that something in red wine may slow it down og:url: https://time.com/4032194/red-wine-alzheimers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1527b72ca1ddfbc/6988604b524fc0f68ddf4298/alzheimers-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1000&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1000 og:image:height: 563 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock health alzheimers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How a Compound in Red Wine Might Slow Alzheimer’s twitter:description: Nothing can stop the brain’s slow decline in Alzheimer’s disease, but the latest study hints that something in red wine may slow it down twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1527b72ca1ddfbc/6988604b524fc0f68ddf4298/alzheimers-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1000&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Evidence Resveratrol May Slow Alzheimer's > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Should I Drink Red Wine? [Watch (HLS stream): Should I Drink Red Wine?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JLVLyuEq.m3u8) (1:35)  _Published 2015-03-12. Cheers to your health! All five of our experts give red wine a purple-stained smile._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 14, 2015 1:33 PM UTC  Illustration by Sydney Rae Hass for TIME  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 14, 2015 1:33 PM UTC Correction appended, Sept. 14, 2015 In what the authors describe as the largest and longest study of resveratrol in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, there’s encouraging news that the component, which is found in red wine, grapes and dark chocolate, may keep the disease from progressing. Dr. R. Scott Turner, professor of neurology and director of the memory disorders program at Georgetown University Medical Center and his team created a purified form of resveratrol, which is being studied in both animal and human studies for preventing age-related conditions such as diabetes and cancer. In a study published in _Neurology_, he described how they randomly assigned half of a group of 119 men and women to take up to 1,000 mg of resveratrol daily, and the other half to a placebo, for a year. All of the participants had mild or moderate Alzheimer’s disease. At the end of the year, Turner compared the people’s scores on cognitive tests and assessments of how independent they were in their daily living from the start of the study. “My nightmare was that nothing would be different from the placebo group, and there would be nothing of interest to talk about,” he says. “But that did not happen. I think resveratrol is an engaging target that’s very interesting and could be pharmacologically manipulated to develop a treatment.” **MORE:** [Red Wine Not That Healthy After All, Study Shows](http://time.com/97878/red-wine-healthy-study/) The resveratrol group showed no change in the levels of a protein that builds up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Turner’s group also measured the protein in spinal fluid and blood, and did not see differences over the year in the resveratrol group. That’s likely because experts believe that as Alzheimer’s progresses, more of the protein plaques form in the brain, and less of the protein is released to the rest of the body. The resveratrol group also showed smaller brain volume, which in the case of Alzheimer’s is a positive sign, as the disease can cause inflammation and swelling that can interfere with nerve connections. **MORE:** [Noteworthy Advances in Alzheimer’s Research](http://time.com/3969258/noteworthy-advances-in-alzheimers-research/) Even more encouraging, the people who were treated showed slight improvements in their ability to maintain certain daily activities on their own, such dressing and bathing themselves. How resveratrol may be affecting the Alzheimer’s disease process isn’t clear yet. Turner says the findings don’t suggest that red wine is a cure for Alzheimer’s. The amounts of resveratrol in the purified doses that the participants took were extremely high and beyond those found on the market currently — around what would be contained in about 1,000 bottles of red wine. Plus, he says, resveratrol supplements currently available over the counter are “unregulated and we don’t know how much is in it. We need more studies to see if it really does have benefit and then it could be turned into more effective drugs that can better target Alzheimer’s.” ### 5 Horrible Habits You Need to Stop Right Now  Do Not Email First Thing in the Morning or Last Thing at Night “The former scrambles your priorities and all your plans for the day and the latter just gives you insomnia,” says Ferriss, who insists “email can wait until 10am” or after you check off at least one substantive to-do list item. Chris Pecoraro—Getty Images  Do Not Agree to Meetings or Calls With No Clear Agenda or End Time “If the desired outcome is defined clearly… and there’s an agenda listing topics–questions to cover–no meeting or call should last more than 30 minutes,” claims Ferriss, so “request them in advance so you can ‘best prepare and make good use of our time together.'” Sam Edwards—Getty Images/Caiaimage  Do Not Check Email Constantly Batch it and check it only periodically at set times (Ferriss goes for twice a day). Your inbox is analogous to a cocaine pellet dispenser, says Ferriss. Don’t be an addict. Tools like strategic use of the auto responder and Boomerang can help. Jetta Productions—Getty Images  Do Not Carry a Digital Leash 24/7 At least one day a week leave you smartphone somewhere where you can’t get easy access to it. If you’re gasping, you’re probably the type of person that most needs to do kick this particular habit. by nacoki ( MEDIA ARC )—Getty Images/Flickr RF  Do Not Let People Ramble Sounds harsh, but it’s necessary, Ferriss believes. “Small talk takes up big time,” he says, so when people start to tell you about their weekends, cut them off politely with something like “I’m in the middle of something, but what’s up?” But be aware, not everyone agrees with this one (and certainly not in every situation), and you may want to pay particularly close attention to norms around chit chat when traveling internationally. Reza Estakhrian—Getty Images **Correction**: The original version of this story misstated that all the participants were men. 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