Dr. Mary T. Newport is a pediatrician whose husband got Alzheimer’s disease in his fifties. His name is Steve. Steve had dementia for about 5 years before the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, making it pretty clear that he was in no good shape when he got it.
Confusion regarding small and everyday activities, forgetting important things was becoming a routine. Many areas of his brain were seriously damaged, causing absence of short term memory. Mary thought that keeping his diet on a good track may make some progress.
The conventional drugs that Mary’s husband was taking were of no help. Becoming depressive, losing weight, having tremors were just a small portion of the problem. Painful as it was, Mary decided to give a chance to alternative medicine. She discovered a medicine that stopped the growth of the disease in many patients for a few months. She did a lot of research and found out that the most important active ingredient in the drug was something called MCT – medium chain triglycerides oil. Odd or logically enough – this is coconut oil! Of course, she bought extra virgin coconut oil. What she did was feed Steve two times every day with two spoons of the coconut oil, with a meal. The first results showed after only two months.
He was happier, talkative, and he did not have any more tremors. After having this routine for a year, he actually started recognizing familiar people and started walking around. What makes it even better, he started reading again and this is an activity that it is almost impossible with the condition. Understandably, he wasn’t the old version of himself, but he was definitely an improved one, with the chance of further improvement.
What Does the Coconut Oil Do?
First of all, the brain requires good nutrition, in need for more than the half of the glucose you consume. A damaged brain does not utilize this glucose due to the impaired cognition and hypometabolism. When the fat is broken down, the byproducts are ketones. These ketones are energy replacement for the brain, regenerating neurons and nerves in the damaged bran. With this condition, the neurons in affected areas cannot utilize the glucose because there is a development of resistance to insulin. However, if the damaged cells could somehow get in touch with ketones they can survive.
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil can also help with epilepsy that is resistant to drugs, with Multiple Sclerosis, diabetes, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease.
A research study conducted in 2004 claims that coconut oil helps improving cognition in adults that have problems with memory. Twenty people were included, with Alzheimer’s and similar conditions. What they were given was the oil and placebos. After an hour and a half, the people that took the oil had a higher percentage of the strongest ketone found in our organism.
Each of the participants was on a diet before and had blood tests done before the treatments, after a period of rest for half an hour and after ninety minutes after the cognition test. The dose used was 40 ml. Some doctors claim that the Alzheimer’s food are carbs and fats. Something else that plays an important role is the lifestyle, of course.
A correct diet or fast can be the principle that would work with the oil treatment regarding glycogen stores within the liver. This method will burn piled fat and make you able to reach ketogenic phase, and it is this phase that is the healthy way of losing wait while at the same time making the brain work better. Keep in mind though, that when the percent of ketones rises too much, the acidity in the blood could also rise. As a result ketoacidosis can happen and this can have serious consequences. Reducing gluten and sugar will help the protection of the good bacteria.
