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Alzheimer’s disease affects over 5 million in the USA, and ranks seventh in deaths from diseases. Perhaps this is why a dramatic recovery from Alzheimer’s in the St. Petersburg, Florida area, where so many retirees live out their lives, created such a media stir. Here’s what happened:
Dr. Mary Newport, medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Florida, tried to get her husband Steve into a promising new drug trial for his Alzheimer’s, but it was too late for that trial.
Steve had been on Alzheimer drugs Aricept, Namenda, and Exelon, but his condition was just getting worse from 2003, the year when his decline into dementia started, to 2007 when he became completely overwhelmed with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Steve had deteriorated more with the pharmaceuticals. He walked with an odd gait. He experienced tremors, and had difficulty reading because the words seemed to move on the page. He couldn’t maintain focus to complete any tasks and had difficulties carrying on conversations.
Steve’s memory had faded completely in many areas. For example, he forgot how to get water out of the refrigerator. He also had forgotten how to draw a clock, couldn’t find eating utensils where they were usually kept, and he would be in a fog for days at a time.
But Steve’s condition has improved greatly since coconut oil was included in his diet.
Coconut oil and the science behind it
After Mary missed the time limit for accepting Steve into that promising new Alzheimer’s drug trial, she researched the new drug in that trial and discovered it was a pharmaceutical version of MCT oil, (Medium Chain Triglycerides).
Then she realized that both coconut and palm kernel oils were naturally composed of MCT oils. She decided to try coconut oil for her husband’s condition.
MCTs are easier to quickly digest than other types of fats. They require less bile and enzyme action for intestinal absorption, and they are metabolized quickly in the liver. Therefore, MCTs expend energy more rapidly and strongly with less fats storing in the blood and tissues.
Metabolizing MCTs creates ketones, organic compounds that occur when fats are broken down for energy use.
Recent research, which led to Big Pharma’s attempt to duplicate naturally occurring MCTs, has shown that ketones help protect against Alzheimer’s, and even reverse it. Compared to Big Pharma’s synthetic version of MCT Oil, naturally sourced ketones remain in one’s body over twice as long, eight hours compared to three.
So Mary Newport’s investigation led her to a less expensive solution for her husband without the often predictable side effects of a pharmaceutical. Her sharing of this information benefits all of us. Prior to her discovery and more recently, higher nutritional value has been attributed to coconut oil. But her discovery of its use for Alzheimer’s adds tremendously to our knowledge base.
Steve’s Back in Action
Shortly after a regimen of four teaspoons full of coconut oil twice a day, Steve actually began improving. His improvement has been gradual but steady over the course of a year. His positive attitude and eagerness to begin newly each day has returned with even greater vigor than before his dementia.
His odd gait has disappeared and he has been able to start running for exercise again. He has been able to work and complete tasks without being micro-managed. Relatives who visit occasionally have noticed his improvement at remembering them and conversing normally.
There have been occasions when his tremors would begin to return after exercising if he had missed his coconut/MCT oil drink, but they would vanish immediately upon drinking the oil. He has remembered how to draw a clock again!
This is now; that was then
Starting a few decades ago, coconut oil was demonized by the food processing industry’s quest to lower their cost, boost profit margins, and create longer shelf life by using hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils.
Butter and palm oil were also included in the food industry’s false fear campaigns against saturated fats to con consumers into buying artificially developed toxic oils and margarines.
Until then, coconut and palm oils were used in all sorts of packaged foods and baked products. Butter was the dinner table favorite. That all gradually changed with the propaganda campaign until dangerous margarines and partially and fully hydrogenated toxic cooking oils moved onto grocery shelves and into packaged foods and baked products, replacing healthy coconut, butter and palm oils.
Recent research has debunked the emphasis of cholesterol dangers as exaggerated or even false. Trans fats or hydrogenated oils have been proven to be worse for human health than even the false claims of cholesterol dangers from saturated fats.
Now unbiased research and human experience are proving the health benefits of coconut oil. Almost all health food stores sell it. Large quantities can be ordered at bulk rates on line. The ideal coconut oil is organic virgin. But even lesser coconut oil has many virtues remaining as well.
Coconut oil is considered a saturated fat because it is solid, though it begins melting above 75 degrees Fahrenheit, or 24 degrees Celsius. In addition to ingesting it, say with dark chocolate to make it yummy, coconut oil is one of the best oils for cooking because of its very high smoke point. This makes it less likely to turn toxic from excess heat than olive and other pure vegetable oils.
Yes, saturated fats were falsely demonized and those lies were almost totally accepted by consumers and health professionals until recent years. But that was then, and this is now.
Article sources you can click for more information:
Coconut oil for Alzheimer’s – an Actual Case http://www.anh-usa.org/coconut-oil-and-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-disease/
Dr. Newport’s Website for Ketone Research and Updates on Steve http://www.coconutketones.com/
MCT Oil Explained http://backacrosstheline.blogspot.com/2007/09/mct-oil-advantages.html
Ketones and Ketosis Explained http://www.lowcarb.ca/tips/tips011.html
Weston A. Price Fdn – The Importance of Saturated Fats for Biological Functions http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/528-importance-of-saturated-fats-for-biological-functions.html
Coconut Oil.com – A Compendium of Research Articles on Coconut Oil http://www.coconutoil.com/
