Omega-3 Fish Oil May Help Prevent Alcohol-Related Dementia

According to researchers from the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, a new study suggests that omega-3 fish oil may help protect against alcohol-related dementia.

Previous studies have looked at long-term alcohol abuse and how it can increase the risk of dementia. The study showed that brain cells of rats that had been exposed to high contents of alcohol could be protected against infllmation and cell death when given fish oil.

Lead study author Michael A. Collins, Ph.D., and colleagues analyzed the results from 143 studies in order to find that moderate social drinking can reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment.

The study shows that small amounts of alcohol can affect the brain cells, helping them cope with major stresses down the road. For instance, too much alcohol overwhelms the cells and can create both inflammation and cell death, according to background information from the study.

The researchers looked at cultures from the adult rat brain cells to the amounts of alcohol equivalent for more than four times the legal limit of driving. The cell cultures were then compared with cultures of brain cells that were exposed to the same high levels of alcohol, plus a compound found in fish oil called omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

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

Results concluded the following, via a press release regarding how fish oil can protect against alcohol-related dementia: "Fish oil has the potential of helping preserve brain integrity in abusers," Collins said. "At the very least, it wouldn't hurt them."

Yet researchers note that the best way to prevent alcohol abuse is to quit drinking or drink in moderation.

"We don't want people to think it's okay to take a few fish oil capsules and then continue to go on abusing alcohol," Collin concluded.

More information regarding the study can be found via the 14th Congress of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism in Warsaw.