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.

　　上周的新闻故事宣布，一天三杯香槟可以防治痴呆。这理由足以让人试图打开一瓶。报告基于一项Reading大学三年前的研究，然而上周又通过社交媒体浮出水面。研究者发现喝香槟可以改进空间记忆——行驶到你想去地方的能力(比如，从酒吧到家)。香槟包含夏敦埃酒，混合着黑皮诺和莫尼耶皮诺，这是两种包含着酚醛酸的黑葡萄，可以减少发炎，或许会保护脑细胞。

　　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.

　　目前看来效果不错，但除非你是啮齿目动物，不然没有证据表明痛饮香槟可以保护你的认知功能。这项研究并不是在人类身上实验的，而是在24只成熟老鼠身上。老鼠被分为八组，香槟，气泡酒精或含二氧化碳的饮料被混合进了他们的食物中。在六周的时间内，研究者测试了老鼠通过迷宫来定位食物的能力，并发现喝香槟的老鼠明显在任务中表现更好。

　　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.

　　在显微镜下观察老鼠大脑时发现时，那些喝了香槟的老鼠体内蛋白质数量增加，这种蛋白质可以刺激神经细胞网络的形成，这和记忆与学习有关。特别的是，这些老鼠的大脑海马区具有更多的抗肌萎缩蛋白，也许可以防止逻辑推理能力和空间记忆的丧失。

　　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.

　　无论老鼠和人类有多么不同，实验室的啮齿目动物一直被广泛地用作防控人类疾病的模型，尤其是对中风，心脏病，糖尿病和乳腺癌的研究。那么这项研究对人类有启发吗?对于香槟爱好者来说坏消息是——老鼠只接受了体重1.78毫升每千克的量——相当于人类每星期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.

　　如果你想证明香槟对健康有益，你可以轻易从19世纪物理学家的研究中找到证据，香槟可以溶解肾结石，治疗贫血，使你保持健康。

（编辑：何莹莹）