Good news for Wine lovers: a brand-new study shows that moderate wine intake can help to fight off neurodegenerative diseases and cognitive decline.

A group of scientists out of Madrid have been investigating the molecular mechanisms of these neuroprotective actions. Instead of looking at wine directly, they studied the compounds that are left after wine has passed through the body, known as wine-derived human gut Metabolites.

Overall, they found that these metabolites can assist in preventing cell death. They also found that metabolites differed depending on the subjects’ Gut Microbiota composition.

“In other words, differences in our gut microbiota are leading to the different metabolites. Which underpins the idea that humans benefit from food in different ways,” says Dr. Esteban-Fernández, the study’s lead author. “This individual difference is a factor not to be neglected to understand the health effects of certain foods. We are now in need to advance our understanding of the effect of diet in the promotion of normal brain function.”

As such, don’t feel guilty about having that glass of red wine with dinner: your brain may actually be benefitting from it.