Moderate Alcohol Levels May Protect Brain After Trauma

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The study clearly does not suggest a reason to drink before driving, Tien said. "This [study] concerns post-injury effects," he said. "If you drink and drive, your chances of getting into a fatal accident are much higher than if you are sober."

Half the people who die from auto accidents and other causes of trauma do so before they reach a hospital, the researchers noted.

The apparent protective effect of alcohol has to do with something that happens in brain cells, the study found. The researchers also assessed more than 500 patients who suffered severe injuries to the torso and found no effect of blood alcohol levels on the death rate.

Dr. David Okonkwo, clinical director of the University of Pittsburgh Brain Trauma Research Center, said the study "opens new questions that we should be studying in experimental models of brain injury.

"We know that alcohol has a modulatory effect on the activity of brain cells, but we don't know what the influence is of that modulatory effect in the setting of a brain injury," he said. "In that regard, this is an interesting finding."

Okonkwo reiterated the warning about drinking and driving. "Having a modest amount may be beneficial should you have a brain injury, but having no alcohol at all in the system greatly reduces the chance that you will have a brain injury in the first place," he said.

More information

You can learn more about head injury by visiting the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.