Fish oil has been controversial as a heart protection supplement. New research may prove equally controversial.
Addiction researchers report that fish oil can reverse the ravages of alcohol addiction in brain cells. The investigators cultured brain tissue and exposed it to high concentrations of alcohol…equivalent to four times the legal intoxication level. Other cells were exposed to the same level of alcohol but also provided with DHA, a component of fish oil. The DHA appeared to protect brain cells from inflammation and neuronal death.
Although no clinical research supports these preliminary findings, the scientists suggest that fish oil might help protect the brain from chronic alcohol abuse.
In The People’s Pharmacy perspective, it is too early to start using fish oil to try to prevent a hangover or undo the damage from a binge. Better to avoid the possibility of harming the neurons with excess alcohol rather than counting on DHA to reverse it. We will be watching for clinical studies to see what, if any, benefits accrue in human beings (as compared to brain cells in culture) when they get supplemental DHA. At this point, we feel confident in suggesting that adding fish to the diet just might help the brain as well as the heart.
