The Nestl?© Research Center (NRC) and EPFL, one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, will study the role nutrition plays in children ™s brain development in order to identify ways of slowing down brain decline in older age and preventing diseases such as Alzheimer ™s.

The agreement will also include research into taste perception and flavour enhancement.

Nestl?© will contribute 5 million swiss francs each year to research at EPFL's Brain Mind Institute, where two Nestl?© Chairs will be established.

The deal comes in the wake of the 3rd International Nutrition Symposium held at the NRC in October this year.

Nestl?© established these yearly events three years ago in order to establish a world-class scientific forum devoted exclusively to food and health.

The latest meeting focused on improving the scientific understanding of the importance of food in fuelling the brain and how the brain chooses food.

One of the most important findings was that a good diet has more potential than previously recognised to improve brain function.

It is believed the findings may help in establishing specific nutritional targets which slow down or even stabilise age-related brain decline.

The researchers say that two small 125 millilitre glasses of Madiran wine a day would provide between 200 and 300 milligrams of procyanidins, which research suggests is enough to lower blood pressure.

The team suspect that the traditional wine-making techniques used in these two regions probably explain much of their higher procyanidin content.

The procyanidin compound comes mainly from grape seeds which are best extracted in a long fermentation process where both the seeds and the skins of grapes ferment over a three to four week period.

The modern techniques used in creating 'New World' wines often only ferment the seeds and skins for no more than a week, leaving fewer procyanidins in the finished wine.

Grape variety is also important as some grapes such as those used in the south west of France are particularly rich in procyanidins but the fermentation process is still thought to be a factor in how high procyanidin content will be.

Professor Corder says healthy wine is a difficult concept as too many people over-indulge and smooth, sweet, very alcoholic wines tend to dominate the market, which are not as a rule high in procyanidins.

It seems wines which are rich in procyanidin are more difficult to make to high standards, have a tannin taste, and are expensive.

Professor Corder says more research is needed to determine how procyanidins in wine affect human health and drinking smaller quantities with meals is the only pattern of wine-drinking that is associated with health benefits.

The study is published in the journal Nature.