Coconut Oil Treats Dementia & Alzheimer’s
You have probably heard of the benefits of taking virgin cold pressed organic coconut oil for blood lipids, correcting cholesterol and losing weight, but did you know that coconut oil also treats dementia & Alzheimer’s? We have known of this for a few years now when we first heard about a US doctor who had treated her husband who had severe early onset Alzheimer’s at only 58 years old.
We have just listened to this doctor, Mary Newport MD, being interviewed on the “Awakening from Alzheimer’s” free docuseries currently available at this link. She was telling the story of the amazing improvement in her husband, Steve, after taking just one dose of coconut oil!
Steve’s Story
There was a small clinical trial in the US a few years ago of a food substance to see the effects on Alzheimer’s suffers. The food substance was basically medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil, but potential participants in the study could not be accepted if they had severe Alzheimer’s. Steve had failed the cognition test twice with a score of only 13 out of a possible 30 and his wife Mary was really dejected about him not being able to get the potential benefit from this trial.
She knew that MCT oil was found in coconut oil, so, with only hours to go before Steve’s next and final attempt to get into the study, Mary Newport bought some coconut oil from a health food store and gave a couple of tablespoons to Steve. Amazingly his score on the test increased to 18 out of 30 and this was enough to get him into the trial.
Steve continued to improve and regained a lot memory and cognitive function as well as his sense of humour, and whilst not being able to return to work has a vastly improved quality of life. He apparently said that taking just one dose of the coconut oil was
Like a light being switched on in his brain
Isn’t it incredible that something as simple and inexpensive as coconut oil treats dementia & Alzheimer’s?
So how is it that coconut oil treats dementia & Alzheimer’s?
The brain’s usual fuel source is glucose which the body will extract from carbohydrates. Glucose can cross the blood/brain barrier and get into brain cells with the assistance of insulin. But, if insulin can no longer unlock the cell to allow the glucose to enter, brain cells will die and connections between cells are no longer made.
Why should insulin no longer be able to transport the glucose? For the same reason that type 2 diabetes is at epidemic levels in the Western world – too much glucose consumption from carbohydrates leading to insulin resistance.
Effectively dementia and Alzheimer’s is type 3 diabetes.
Ie insulin resistance of the brain
This is the clever bit and another example of just how amazing our bodies really are. Turns out our brains are designed also to run on fats – this was discovered in the 1960s. This being a survival mechanism when faced with famine and the body will burn the fat stored in the body both to fuel our normal bodily function but also our brains.
Ketone Bodies
Ordinary fat does not cross the blood/brain barrier, but ketone bodies do. These are able to use exactly the same receptors on brain cells that glucose would use but without the need for insulin to transport the ketone bodies into the brain cells.
So the MCT oil in coconut oil cannot directly enter brain cells but this is converted by the liver into ketone bodies, which can cross the blood/brain barrier and fuel brain cells. This is how coconut oil treats dementia & Alzheimer’s sufferers – by providing a fuel source that the brain can use because it can no longer use glucose due to insulin resistance.
Such a neat and simple solution to such debilitating conditions.
Reduce All Carbohydrates
Obviously if too much damage has already occurred to the brain the amount of improvement will be limited but the key is to prevent the damage from starting in the first place. The secret here is really very simple –
Sugar in any form is not your friend.
If you want to avoid the many diseases of affluence suffered in the Western world, all you have to do is minimise your carbohydrate consumption from all grains, and increase your vegetables and good fat consumption by cooking with and taking virgin cold pressed organic coconut oil. You can also buy pure MCT oil which is a more concentrated form than in coconut oil, but this is a more expensive option. The key is to take good oils while minimising glucose from all forms of carbohydrates and sugars.
Preserving our brain function by minimising sugars, Edith and Tim at CoolWellbeing Foundation
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