Coconut Oil: Four Tablespoons of This "Brain Food" May Prevent Alzheimer's

Reposted from Mercola.com

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/13/can-this-natural-food-cure-or-prevent-alzheimers.aspx

By Dr. Mercola

Dr. Mary Newport writes about ketone bodies, an alternative fuel for your brain which your body makes when digesting coconut oil, and how coconut oil may offer profound benefits in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.
If her theory is accurate, this could be one of the greatest natural health discoveries in a long time. Backing up her claims is the remarkable recovery of her own husband.¹
Bear in mind however that contrary to Dr. Newport, I personally do NOT support using drugs to treat Alzheimer's, and based on his condition believe enrolling him in a vaccine study is completely contraindicated and ill-advised.
That said, I believe Dr. Newport may have stumbled upon a powerful natural strategy to help prevent and treat Alzheimer's, and that's what I want to address here.

'Brain Starvation' Is a Hallmark of Alzheimer's Disease

One of the primary fuels your brain needs is glucose, which is converted into energy.
The mechanism for glucose uptake in your brain has only recently begun to be studied, and what has been learned is that your brain actually manufactures its own insulin² to convert glucose in your blood stream into the food it needs to survive.
As you may already know, diabetes is the condition where your body's response to insulin is weakened until your body eventually stops producing the insulin necessary to regulate blood sugar, and your body's ability to regulate (or process) blood sugar into energy becomes essentially broken.
Now, when your brain's production of insulin decreases, your brain literally begins to starve, as it's deprived of the glucose-converted energy it needs to function normally.This is what happens to Alzheimer's patients -- portions of their brain start to atrophy, or starve, leading to impaired functioning and eventual loss of memory, speech, movement, and personality.
In effect, your brain can begin to atrophy from starvation if it becomes insulin-resistant and loses its ability to convert glucose into energy.
It is now also known that diabetics have a 65 percent increased risk of also being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and there appears to be a potent link between the two diseases, even though the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined.
It seems quite clear however that both are related to insulin resistance – in your body and in your brain.

Alternate Brain Food Can Stop Brain Atrophy in Its Tracks

Fortunately, your brain is able to run on more than one type of energy supply, and this is where coconut oil enters the picture.
There's another substance that can feed your brain and prevent brain atrophy. It may even restore and renew neuron and nerve function in your brain after damage has set in.
The substance in question is called ketone bodies or ketoacids.
Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy. And a primary source of ketone bodies are the medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) found in coconut oil!
Coconut oil contains about 66 percent MCTs.
The benefits of ketone bodies may also extend to a number of other health conditions, according to Dr. Newport:³

"Further, this is a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclero­sis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), drug resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and diabetes type II, where there is insulin resistance.

Ketone bodies may help the brain recover after a loss of oxygen in newborns through adults, may help the heart re­cover after an acute attack, and may shrink cancer­ous tumors."

Medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are fats that are not processed by your body in the same manner as long-chain triglycerides. Normally, a fat taken into your body must be mixed with bile released from your gallbladder before it can be broken down in your digestive system.
But medium-chain triglycerides go directly to your liver, which naturally converts the oil into ketones, bypassing the bile entirely. Your liver then immediately releases the ketones into your bloodstream where they are transported to your brain to be used as fuel.
In fact, ketones appear to be the preferred source of brain food in patients affected by diabetes or Alzheimer's.

"In Alzheimer's disease, the neurons in certain areas of the brain are un­able to take in glucose due to insulin resistance and slowly die off, a process that appears to happen one or more decades before the symptoms become apparent," Dr. Newport states in her article.⁴
"If these cells had access to ketone bod­ies, they could potentially stay alive and continue to function."

The Ketonic Diet – Why Avoiding Grains Also Protects Against Neurodegeneration

Another way to increase ketone production in your body is by restricting carbohydrates.
This is what happens when you go on a high-fat, high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet: Your body begins to run on fats instead of carbohydrates, and the name for this is ketosis.
This is also why you don't starve to death when you restrict food for weeks at a time, because your body is able to convert stored fat into ketones that are used as fuel instead of glucose.
Consuming medium-chain triglycerides, such as coconut oil, is a better option. However, because the ketones produced by ketosis are not concentrated in your bloodstream, but are instead mostly excreted in your urine.

MCTs and Alzheimer's Research

The mechanism of this MCT-ketone metabolism appears to be that your body treats MCTs as a carbohydrate and not a fat. This allows the ketone energy to hit your bloodstream without the normal insulin spike associated with carbohydrates entering your bloodstream.
So in effect coconut oil is a fat that acts like a carbohydrate when it comes to brain fuel.
Therapeutic levels of MCTs have been studied at 20 grams per day. According to Dr. Newport's calculations,⁵ just over two tablespoons of coconut oil (about 35 ml or seven level teaspoons) would supply you with the equivalent of 20 grams of MCT, which is indicated as either a preventative measure against degenerative neurological diseases, or as a treatment for an already established case.
Remember though that people tolerate coconut oil differently, and you may have to start slowly and build up to these therapeutic levels. My recommendation is to start with one teaspoon, taken with food in the mornings. Gradually add more coconut oil every few days until you are able to tolerate four tablespoons.
Coconut oil is best taken with food, to avoid upsetting your stomach.

You Also Need Dietary B12 for Optimal Brain Health

According to a small Finnish study recently published in the journal Neurology,⁶ people who consume foods rich in B12 may also reduce their risk of Alzheimer's in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin), the risk of developing Alzheimer's was reduced by two percent.
However, I strongly disagree with the dietary advice published by CNN Health⁷ on this topic, which included fish and fortified cereals.
Fortified cereals are most definitely NOT a good source of dietary B vitamins. They also have inorganic iron added. This is the worst type of iron to use as a supplement and it will raise already elevated iron in those that don't need it, like most adult men and postmenopausal women.
Elevated iron levels will actually increase your risk of Alzheimer's.
Additionally, most fish are today so contaminated, I cannot recommend increasing consumption of fish either. One exception would be sardines, which are high in B12 and small enough to typically be less contaminated, compared to larger fish.
Instead, your ideal dietary sources of B12 vitamins would include:

• Liver from organic calf
• Wild-caught salmon
• Organic grass-fed beef
• Lamb (which are typically grass-fed even if not specified as organic)
• Organic free-range eggs

Vitamin B12 is present in natural form only in animal sources of food, which is one of the reasons I advise against a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs. An analog is a substance that blocks the uptake of true B12, so your body's need for the nutrient actually increases.
There are many well-documented cases of brain abnormalities in strict vegetarians, resulting from vitamin B12 deficiency.

Foods to AVOID to Keep Your Mind Sharp

Meanwhile, besides incorporating ketone therapy (coconut oil), as either a preventative step or as a treatment, there are other steps you can take to help minimize your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease decades from now.
For instance, it's important to know what foods to avoid, in order to protect the health of your brain.
These four foods in particular can be pinpointed as enemies of optimal brain health:

1. Sugars, especially fructose -- Excessive sugar and grain consumption are the driving factors behind insulin resistance, and the strategies that protect your brain are very similar to those for avoiding diabetes.
   
   There is simply no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage, as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain.
   Ideally, you'll want to restrict your total fructose consumption to below 25 grams a day. This includes refraining from eating too many fruits, if you normally eat a lot of them. If you consume more than 25 grams a day of fructose, you can damage your cells by creating insulin and leptin resistance and raising your uric acid levels.
   Berries tend to be lower in fructose, and wild blueberries, for example, are also high in anthocyanin and antioxidants, and are well known for being beneficial against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
2. Grains – Even whole, organic grains will convert to sugar in your body and spike your insulin levels.
   
   Ideally, you'll want to devise a nutritional plan geared to your specific nutritional type to maximize your health benefits, as grain carbs are far more detrimental to some than others. I believe this is essential to everyone's health, and I'm very pleased to now be able to offer the full online nutritional typing program for free. We've previously charged $29 for this test, so please do take advantage of this offer.
3. Artificial sweeteners – Aspartame, for example, is an excitotoxin that can literally destroy your brain cells. There are many studies showing the dangers of aspartame. For example, one study published in 2000⁸ found that aspartame shortens the memory response, impairs memory retention, and damages hypothalamic neurons in mice.
   
   And the results from a 2002 study published in the journal Nature⁹ suggest that aspartame may cause mental retardation, although the mechanism by which it does that is still unknown.
   Other animal studies have linked aspartame to brain damage and brain tumors,¹⁰ even in low doses. I believe aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are dangerous to your health in so many ways, I even wrote an entire book on this topic called Sweet Deception.
4. Soy -- Unfermented soy products are another common food that should be avoided if you want to maintain healthy brain function.
   
   One well-designed epidemiological study linked tofu consumption with exaggerated brain aging. Men who ate tofu at least twice weekly had more cognitive impairment, compared with those who rarely or never ate the soybean curd, and their cognitive test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older than their current age.
   What's more, higher midlife tofu consumption was also associated with low brain weight. Shrinkage does occur naturally with age, but for the men who had consumed more tofu showed an exaggeration of the usual patterns you typically see in aging.
   Dr. Kaayla Daniel has written an excellent book, The Whole Soy Story, which covers the health dangers of soy in great depth and I highly recommend it to anyone still under the illusion that soy is a health food.

Additional Guidelines to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease While Combating Diabetes at the Same Time

Clearly, the best-known "treatment" for Alzheimer's disease is prevention, not drugs.
There is no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain -- just as it destroys the rest of your body and contributes to degenerative and chronic diseases of all kinds.
As a general rule for optimal physical and mental health, you'll want to keep your fasting insulin levels below 3.
Interestingly, normalizing your body's insulin and leptin levels will typically help raise your production of brain insulin, which is a good thing.
In addition to the dietary recommendations already discussed above, the following seven guidelines can further help you prevent Alzheimer's disease and keep your mind sharp as you age:

1. Optimize your vitamin D levels through safe sun exposure, a safe tanning bed, and/or vitamin D3 supplements.
2. Consume more high-quality animal-based omega-3 fat. I recommend consuming high-quality krill oil to meet the optimal amount of omega-3 fats needed to achieve good health and fight Alzheimer's. I recently did an interview with Dr. Rudi Moerck, an industry expert, which goes into great detail as to why I am strongly recommending krill.
3. Exercise. You probably know that exercise is good for your cardiovascular system, but studies have found that exercise can also protect your brain, thereby warding off Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
   
   According to one study, the odds of developing Alzheimer's were nearly quadrupled in people who were less active during their leisure time, between the ages of 20 and 60, compared with their peers.
   Similar to a healthy diet, regular physical activity is one of those actions that can significantly improve many aspects of your physical and emotional health. For the elderly, simple activities, such as walking and lightweight training, would likely provide benefits. For those who are younger, more strenuous exercise will radically improve the benefits.
4. Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Even trace amounts of mercury can cause the type of damage to nerves that is characteristic of the damage found in Alzheimer's disease.
   
   Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to your improved diet, you can follow my mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.
   Other sources of mercury include most seafood, thimerosal-containing vaccinations and flu shots , which contain both mercury and aluminum.
5. Avoid aluminum. Aluminum has been widely associated with Alzheimer's disease. Your main sources of exposure are likely through drinking water and antiperspirants.
   
   Aluminum cookware may also be a source of exposure. Although aluminum pots are probably less problematic than the sources mentioned above, I personally would not use aluminum cookware.
6. Challenge your mind. Mental stimulation , such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.
7. Avoid anticholinergic drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain night-time pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.
   A recent study found that those who took one drug classified as a "definite anticholinergics" had a four times higher incidence of cognitive impairment. Regularly taking two of these drugs further increased the risk of cognitive impairment.