Fish oil may save alcoholics from brain damage

Omega-3 fish oil could save the brain from alcohol-related damage and dementia by up to 90 percent, a new study says.

Researchers have found that brain cells exposed to high levels of alcohol were protected against inflammation and neuronal cell death by a compound found in fish oil.

"Fish oil has the potential of helping preserve brain integrity in chronic alcohol abusers," said researcher Michael Collins from Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago, in US.

Collins and the team exposed rat brain cells to concentrations of alcohol about four times the legal limit for driving - a concentrationalcoholics seen in chronic alcoholics.

These brain cultures were then compared with cultures exposed to the same high levels of alcohol and omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from fish oil.

Researchers found there was up to 90 percent less neuroinflammation and neuronal death in the brain cells exposed to alcohol plus DHA than in the cells exposed to alcohol alone.

"Alcohol in moderate amounts stresses cells and thus toughens them up to cope with major stresses and insults down the road that could cause dementia. But too much alcohol overwhelms the cells, leading to neuroinflammation and cell death," Collins added.

According to researchers, it does not mean that people should think it is okay to take a few fish oil capsules and then continue to go on abusing alcohol.

The results were published in the journal PLOS ONE.