An unlikely food for a starving brain.

I strongly believe that virgin coconut oil is beneficial to our health as it is anti-viral and anti-bacteria. I consume three tablespoon of the oil each day. Visitors to this blog can go to 'Surprising health benefits from coconut oil' dated February 17, 2009 and Experiences from those who benefited from using coconut oil' dated March 11, 2009.

Below is an article from Total Health Breakthroughs on coconut oil which is certain to be of interest to those suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease usually comes in our later years. As such, it should be of interest to everyone. People with Alzheimer's disease have a memory problem. While coconut oil is not a cure it can alleviate the problem as Dr. Newport discovered. Please spread the knowledge to those in need of it as it is the aim of this blog to share such knowledge.


An Unlikely Food for a Starving Brain
April 29, 2009

By Melanie Segala
Managing Editor, Total Health Breakthroughs

I learned several interesting facts in this issue devoted to saving your brain from a cognitive crisis. One of the most significant is that people with Alzheimer's disease have a certain degree of insulin resistance in their brain cells which prevents them from taking in adequate amounts of glucose, the brain's primary source of fuel.

Without glucose, a couple of things start happening. First, the brain cells (neurons) cannot produce acetylcholine, the chemical that is needed for memory and cellular communication. Secondly, the neurons begin to die off from a lack of proper nutrition.

You might think when this happens there is little more a person with Alzheimer's can do than eat a low carb diet to reduce insulin resistance and take a drug like Aricept to help slow the progression of symptoms. While both of these are viable options, medical doctor Mary Newport has discovered that a common tropical food, coconut oil, can provide energy-starved brain cells with an alternative fuel called ketones, which are a product of fat breakdown.

Non-hydrogenated coconut oil is comprised of 60% medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). Upon digestion, the liver breaks down the MCTs into ketones which can then be used by the brain.

As Jim explains in his article:

In periods of starvation, the brain will turn to ketones as an energy source. This new treatment [MCTs], which is considered a medical food, simply follows the logic that insulin resistance, which prevents a person with Alzheimer's from getting enough brain food, can be bypassed by giving brain cells ketones as fuel instead.

Dr. Newport had a very personal reason for researching Alzheimer's treatments. Her husband Steve, a healthy active man who could fix anything and kept the books for her medical practice had been diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's in 2004. He began taking Aricept and was then switched over to Exelon in 2007. Unfortunately, he continued to decline, no longer remembering how to do simple addition, use a calculator, or even to eat.

She began researching new medications and clinical trials in which to enroll Steve. That's when she came across a drug called Ketasyn that showed significant improvement over a 90-day period in half of the Alzheimer's patients studied with a certain genetic profile. The main ingredient in Ketasyn is MCTs.

By now, Steve's cognition was leaning more toward severe than moderate AD.

Knowing that coconut oil could provide the same MCTs as Ketasyn, Dr. Newport went to a health food store and bought a quart of 100% virgin coconut oil. The following morning at 9 am, she made oatmeal for Steve and herself, stirring in over 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil in each serving. At 1 pm, she took Steve to a second screening for a clinical trial that would be testing a new Alzheimer's vaccine. The previous day, he had scored too low (14) on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) to be considered as a test subject.

But now, only 4 hours after taking the coconut oil, Steve scored an 18 on the same test and qualified for the study. (Ed. note: After evaluating the possible side effects of the vaccine, Dr. Newport decided not to enroll her husband.)

According to Dr. Newport, "It was like the oil kicked in and he could think clearly again. We were ecstatic." On the fifth day of taking the coconut oil, she saw significant improvement in his personality and cognition. And now months later, Steve can read again, the tremors he had have disappeared, and he's more interested in life and the people around him.

Dr. Newport acknowledges that the damage done to Steve's brain from AD cannot be repaired, but the coconut oil is helping. And it may help other neurodegenerative diseases as well. In 2005, Dr. Theodore VanItallie studied a ketogenic diet on five patients with Parkinson's disease. In all five patients, tremors, stiffness, and walking ability improved by as much as 43%.

Another leading researcher, Dr. Richard Veech, from the National Institutes of Health, also believes that ketones may be a key factor in treating neurodegenerative diseases. However, he cautions people to consult a physician before consuming coconut oil at home because too much of any one fat can be harmful.

Dr. Newport stresses that since coconut oil contains no omega-3 fatty acids it is important to make sure your diet contains an adequate amount from salmon, fish oil capsules, walnuts, flax meal, or flax oil.2 She believes that the large increase in degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and diabetes is linked to the modern diet of mass-produced vegetable oils high in trans fat and devoid of healthy natural fats.

While coconut oil is not a cure for Alzheimer's disease, there is enough evidence of its success to warrant further research of MCTs in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Newport hopes that sharing her husband's story will help make that happen. You can do your part by passing this story on.