Fish oil is effective in reducing the risk of alcohol-related neurodamage and dementia in alcoholics, a new study finds.

Previous studies have established that prolonged consumption of alcohol increases the risk of brain damage and dementia. A new study found that people who are alcoholics can reduce this risk by consumption of fish oil.

The study was conducted by researchers from Loyola University Health System. In the study, researchers subjected the brain cells of adult rats to concentrations of alcohol equivalent to about four times the legal limit for driving. They did this for several days. Following this, the brain cultures were compared to cultures exposed to the same high levels of alcohol, plus a compound found in fish oil called omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The researchers noted a 90 percent lower neuroinflammation and neuronal death in the brain cells in the second set of cultures.

"We quantitate the neuronal death caused by the binge alcohol, and find that the presence of DHA significantly reduces or suppresses the neuronal death as much as 95 percent, lead author Michael Collins explained to Medical News Today. "The brain contains substantial levels of endogenous DHA in membranes that is reduced by the binge alcohol, and the supplementation prevents this loss. Also, there are certain critical 'neuroinflammatory' enzymatic steps that are thought to lead to the neuronal death, possibly by increasing oxygen free radicals, and while these are increased by the alcohol treatment, they are greatly reduced by the DHA cotreatment."

Researchers suggested that further studies are needed to confirm whether fish oil protects against alcohol-related cognitive injury and dementia in adult rodent models.

"Fish oil has the potential of helping preserve brain integrity in chronic alcohol abusers," Collins said in a press statement. "At the very least, it is unlikely that it would hurt them."

In a previous study, the same team of researchers found that moderate consumption of alcohol reduces the risk of dementia.

In 2011, researchers from the Indian University School of Medicine found that omega-3 fish oil can curb binge drinking by reducing the desire for alcohol, Daily Mail reported.  

The current study was published online in the journal PLOS ONE. The project was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.