Omega-3 fish oil could help protect against alcohol-related dementia, according to a study presented at the 14th Congress of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism in Warsaw, Poland.
The study, conducted by researchers from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, analyzed brain cell cultures of rats who had been exposed to large quantities of alcohol.
In a previous study carried out by the same research team, it was discovered that moderate social drinking, defined as two alcoholic drinks a day for men and one for women, could reduce the risk of neuronal degeneration, a condition that frequently underlies dementia.
The research showed that small amounts of alcohol could improve the fitness of brain cells, by "toughening them up" to cope with stress later in life that could lead to dementia. However, high amounts of alcohol were found to "overwhelm" the cells, leading to inflammation and cell death.
For this most recent study, the researchers assessed hippocampal and cortical brain cultures from rats that had been exposed to large quantities of alcohol - the equivalent to a human being four times over the legal alcohol limit for driving.
The cells were then compared with brain cells that had been exposed to the fish-oil
Results showed that the brain cells exposed to the combination of fish oil and alcohol showed as much as 95% less neuroinflammation and neuronal death in the brain cells, compared with the brain cells that were exposed to alcohol alone.
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