The team reasons that alcohol in moderate amounts "toughens up" brain cells, which makes them more resilient to damage, but that excessive amounts of alcohol overwhelms the cells, causing neuroinflammation and cell death.
To investigate the extent to which omega-3 fish oil may protect against this damage, the researchers behind the meta-analysis - with collaborators at the University of Kentucky and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism - conducted a new experiment with cultures of adult rat brain cells.
Over several days, they exposed the cell cultures to alcohol concentrations the equivalent of four times the legal limit for driving. This level of alcohol exposure is similar to that seen in chronic alcoholics