Want better sex, fellas? Have a stiff drink

IT gives the phrase "a stiff drink" a whole new meaning: Australian researchers have made the surprise discovery that alcohol improves, rather than damages, men's performance in the bedroom. They hope the finding, which flies in the face of conventional belief, will reassure men who worry about the affects of drinking on their sex lives. Until now, it has been widely believed alcohol consumption could cause erectile dysfunction, commonly called "brewer's droop''.

But a study of 1580 Australian men has shown the reverse may be true, with drinkers reporting as many as 30 per cent fewer problems than teetotallers. Even binge drinkers had lower rates of erectile dysfunction than those who never drank, although this type of drinking can cause other health problems. Lead study author Dr Kew-Kim Chew, of Western Australia's Keogh Institute for Medical Research, told The Sunday Telegraph men who drank within safe guidelines appeared to have the best erectile function. "We found that, compared to those who have never touched alcohol, many people do benefit from some alcohol, including some people who drink outside the guidelines,'' Dr Chew said. Dr Chew said he had patients with erectile dysfunction who had been told to stop drinking completely.

The latest finding should prevent them compounding the problem by feeling "guilty and stressed'' about present or past drinking, he said. After other risk factors were excluded, weekend drinkers, high-risk drinkers and those who exceeded alcohol-intake guidelines had lower rates of erectile dysfunction than those who drank one day a week or less. Ex-drinkers, however, had the highest risk.

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Drinking apple juice could help prevent Alzheimer's disease, particularly if you are a mouse

Mouse studies do not always transfer well to humans and the result below occurred only under very restricted and abnormal circumstances. Popular article below followed by journal abstract

Research has found that consuming two glasses of apple juice a day could delay the onset of the brain disorder, which affects more than 400,000 people in the UK. Scientists made the discovery through laboratory tests on mice, which showed that those fed apple juice performed better in maze trials. Experts observed that the drink prevented the decline in the rodents' performance in the tests, which they normally suffer as they get older.

The experiments found that apple juice stemmed the production of a small protein fragment called beta amyloid, commonly found in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. The effect was most pronounced when mice were given the equivalent of two glasses of apple juice per day for one month, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell found. Professor Thomas Shea, from the university's Centre for Neurobiology, who led the research, said: "These findings provide further evidence linking nutritional and genetic risk factors for age-related neurodegeneration. "They suggest that regular consumption of apple juice can not only help to keep one's mind functioning at its best, but may also be able to delay key aspects of Alzheimer's disease and augment therapeutic approaches."

The study is published in this month's issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. More than 700,000 people in Britain suffer from dementia, an estimated 417,000 of whom have Alzheimer's, the most common form.

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Dietary Supplementation with Apple Juice Decreases Endogenous Amyloid-? Levels in Murine Brain

By Amy Chan and Thomas B. Shea

Folate deficiency has been associated with age-related neurodegeneration. We demonstrate herein that dietary deficiency in folate and vitamin E, coupled pro-oxidant stress induced by dietary iron, increased amyloid-beta (Abeta) levels in normal adult mice. This increase was potentiated by apolipoprotein E (ApoE) deficiency as shown by treatment of transgenic mice homozygously lacking murine ApoE. Dietary supplementation with apple juice concentrate in drinking water alleviated the increase in Abeta for both mouse genotypes. These findings provide further evidence linking nutritional and genetic risk factors for age-related neurodegeneration, and underscore that dietary supplementation may be useful to augment therapeutic approaches.

Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Volume 16, Number 1, January 2009, Pages 167-171