Is moderate wine consumption good for women?

More data on the effect of alcohol on health is offered by a study recently published in the journal Acta Neurologica Scandinavica in which the authors specifically investigate its influence on the risk of dementia.

"The impact of moderate alcohol consumption on cognitive function and dementia is unclear. We examined the relationship between consumption of different alcoholic beverages and cognitive function in a large population-based study."

Their study subjects were 5033 Norwegian men and women whose alcohol consumption was correlated with cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive function at baseline and after 7 years. What did the data show?

"Moderate wine consumption was independently associated with better performance on all cognitive tests in both men and women."

Moreover...

"There was no consistent association between consumption of beer and spirits and cognitive test results. Alcohol abstention was associated with lower cognitive performance in women[!]."

There are a lot of good reasons to not drink alcohol; but for those whom it is not contraindicated, their conclusion is interesting:

"Light-to-moderate wine consumption was associated with better performance on cognitive tests after 7 years follow up."