A UNIVERSITY is looking for volunteers to see if a compound found in red wine can improve mental functions.

Researchers from Northumbria University want to recruit men and women for a study to find how resveratrol, found in the skin of red grapes and in wine, can increase blood flow and mental performance.

They want to find volunteers from two age groups, from 18 to 35 and from 50 to 70, to take part in the study at the university’s Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Centre in Newcastle.

Studies have already been carried out with younger adults who, in some cases, showed improved performance when their mental function was tested.

Researchers now want to work with an older age group, who must be healthy, non-smokers without chronic health conditions who do not take other supplements.

They will receive £30 for taking part in the study, in which they would be required to attend three sessions at the University’s city campus in Newcastle.

Younger volunteers will be paid £65 to take part in a second study, investigating how they perform mentally demanding tasks in a range of temperatures and altitudes and whether resulting impairments are affected by resveratrol.

For further details, please contact tim.eschle@northumbria.ac.uk or call 0191-204-8818