Omega 3 protects against too much alcohol....

Tuesday, 8-26-2014

If you drink at all or sometimes, you may drink way too much on occasion.

Some people do that at weddings and many do on New Year's Eve. (That's a great reason to stay home or at a motel so you are NOT driving then!)

But that can fry your brain enough to cause some lasting damage.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could have a way to cut that damage by 95%?

It seems that the same ways to get omega 3 in high enough amounts for good health do exactly that!

(This Medical News Today article was linked to another one that showed getting enough omega 3 oils for good health helped prevent all mental decline.

The way to get enough omega 3 includes eating wild caught fish or algae or plankton that is otherwise safe to eat and take purified omega 3 supplements from fish oil and DHA supplements. Eating walnuts is the best way to get the plant version of omega 3 if you aren't allergic.

To avoid excess inflammation, it also helps to avoid all oils high in omega 6 and as many sources of animal fats from animals fed grains instead of their natural diets because the grains are high in omega 6 oils.  And, for the same reason, it helps to avoid all GMO wheat,  refined grain foods; and eat nuts, beans, and vegetables for fiber; and eat far less of even whole grains.  Lastly, using extra virgin olive oil and eating raw, unsalted nuts and eating avocados, which contain the neutral monosaturated fats and each have their own health benefits too, works well to replace oils high in omega 6.

High inflammation is one of the biggest causes of brain and nerve damage; and lowering omega 6 in this way boosts the anti-inflammatory effects of getting enough omega 3 oils.)

The Medical News Today article featured today essentially says that moderate drinking nets out a benefit to the brain.  Excessive drinking harms the brain.  But if you drink excessively often or just on occasion, you can avoid much of the damage if you have a high enough omega 3 intake.

The solution is to always be getting enough omega 3 for good health, protection from excessive inflammation, and because it helps the exercise you do grow new nerve and brain cells to replace any you damaged.

Then, no matter when you drink overmuch, you have your protection already in place!

Here’s the link to the Medical News Today article and following it some key quotes from the article.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265852.php?nx

“Fish oil could prevent alcohol-related dementia   Wednesday 11 September 2013

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. [Mercifully few people drink that much and very few do it often.]

The cells were then compared with brain cells that had been exposed to the fish oil - omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - alongside the same large quantity of alcohol.

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.

Michael Collins, of Loyola University Chicago and study author, explained the findings to Medical News Today:

"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%.

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."