Dr. Mary Newport became determined to help her husband after the severity of his disease was revealed upon taking an Alzheimer's test in which the person being tested is asked to draw the face of a clock. "He drew circles and several numbers just in a very random pattern, didn't really look anything like a clock," she said. "And the doctor pulled me over to the side and said, ‘You know, he's actually on the verge of severe Alzheimer's at this point, he's beyond moderate.’ So that was very, very devastating news."
WHAT IS ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE?
Dr. Newport began learning everything she could about her husband's disease. "It appears to be a type of diabetes of the brain and it's a process that starts happening at least 10 or 20 years before you start having symptoms and it's very similar to type 1 or type 2 diabetes in that you develop a problem with insulin." In this case, insulin problems prevent brain cells from accepting glucose, their primary fuel. Without it, they eventually die. But there is an alternative fuel: ketones, which cells easily accept. Ketones are metabolized in the liver after you eat medium-chain triglycerides, like those found in coconut oil.So Dr. Newport added coconut oil to the diet of her husband, Steve. Just two weeks later, he took the clock test again and demonstrated stunning improvement. Newport said, "I thought at the time, was it just good luck? Was it a lot of prayer? Was it the coconut oil? And I thought, well, we're going to keep the coconut oil going," she said.
Three weeks later Steve took the clock test a third time and continued to perform better on it. And it wasn't just intellectually, he also improved emotionally and physically. "He was not able to run; he was able to run again," she recalled. "He could not read for about a year and a half, but after two or three months, he was able to read. Instead of being very sluggish, not talking very much in the morning, he would come out in the morning with energy, talkative and joking, and he could find his water and his utensils." Steve's success is documented in a book called:
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| Click image to buy. |
The Story of Ketones by Mary T. Newport, MD
(Copyright © 2011; Published by Basic Health Publications, October 7, 2011).
ANOTHER KETONE SOURCE?
And while coconut oil is encouraging in the battle against Alzheimer's disease, there's something even more powerful available—but at a price. A team of biochemists led by Professor Kieran Clarke at England's Oxford University have developed a ketone ester that packs a punch ten times greater than coconut oil. "It reaches quite considerably higher levels," said Clarke, "and you can get whatever levels you want depending on how much you drink." The problem is, they need millions of dollars to mass-produce it. "It's very expensive. And so we can't make very much of it ourselves," said Clarke. "And what we would like is funding so we could actually scale up and make it. But of course there's no real profit in manufacturing stuff like that, and so people really don't want to fund that sort of thing."So until a high-potency ketone ester is available to the general public, coconut oil is still a good ketone source. Just make sure it's pure, in other words, non-hydrogenated. Avoid any hydrogenated oil, including hydrogenated coconut oil, because hydrogenated oils are the same thing as dangerous trans fats. Look on the list of ingredients for the word "hydrogenated."
INCREASE YOUR GOOD CHOLESTEROL WITH COCONUT OIL
Some people are afraid to eat coconut oil because they think it's bad for your heart. But it's actually very healthy. Dr. Beverly Teter, lipid biochemist, is a researcher at the University of Maryland who specializes in the area of dietary fat. She says years ago coconut oil was criticized for raising cholesterol. But scientists have since learned there are two kinds of cholesterol: LDL, the bad kind, and HDL, which is very good for you, and is the kind coconut oil raises. "So they put out the message that it increased serum cholesterol," explained Dr. Teter, "but the truth of the matter is, it was helping the profile of the serum cholesterol. That never has been corrected in the public press, and I think that's the reason people have misconceptions about it."BEYOND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
Not only does coconut oil improve cholesterol levels, but Dr. Teter says the way it helps the brains of some Alzheimer's patients can be extended to people with Parkinson's disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), epilepsy, dementia, and even schizophrenia and autism.COCONUT OIL—A NATURAL ANTIBIOTIC
Coconut oil is a natural antibiotic but without the negative side effects. Dr. Teter says because of that, it can also help defend against viruses like HIV and herpes viruses. "The coconut oil tends to keep the bacteria down so that if you're assaulted with a virus your immune system can concentrate on the virus. It doesn't have to concentrate on 27 other bacteria that day," she explained.HAVE OTHERS EXPERIENCED IMPROVEMENTS?
Since the St. Petersburg Times published Dr. Newport’s article "What If There Was a Cure for Alzheimer's Disease and No One Knew?" on October 29, 2008, she has received many reports from caregivers about their loved ones, and has also read on various forums and online message boards about people who have had dramatic improvements like Steve. They include such improvements as: better social interaction, better recognition of loved ones, improved conversation, resumption of activities, better appetite, better sleep, having more energy and being more talkative. Many others experience more subtle improvement or very gradual improvement that turns into very significant improvement over several months. Others feel they see no change, but their loved one has at least stabilized and not worsened. Several people have e- mailed Dr. Newport telling her that until they stopped taking the coconut oil, they did not realize how much the oil was helping them. Dr. Newport recommends that caretakers keep a journal, so that they can decide months down the road if there has been improvement.She has also heard from some people with diseases other than Alzheimer’s who believe they have seen some improvements, including other forms of dementia (FTD, CBD), Parkinson’s, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s), Huntington’s, MS, bipolar disease, even glaucoma and macular degeneration (which affect neurons).
STEVE'S DIET
Dr. Newport has received many thank-you letters from people whose loved ones with Alzheimer’s were helped after they followed Steve's diet. Dr. Newport explained the overall eating plan she and her husband follow in addition to adding coconut and MCT oils to their daily diet: “We adhere to a ‘whole food’ diet, and avoid processed foods, and reduce carbohydrate intake overall. We eat fish several times a week; poultry, occasional beef, fresh, or fresh frozen, fruits and vegetables; whole grain bread, rice or pasta (relatively small amounts); eggs, whole dairy, goat milk/cheese, coconut oil and coconut milk. For lunch meats we eat ‘all natural’ brands that have no artificial color or preservatives. We buy organic, cage-free, or free-range whenever possible. We do have the occasional treat but overall we stick with this program.” Dr. Newport adds, “Using coconut oil capsules is not an efficient way to give the oil since the capsules are relatively expensive and contain only 1 gram of oil per capsule, whereas the oil is 14 grams per tablespoon.”STEVE’S OTHER SUPPLEMENTS
In addition to taking coconut/MCT oil, Steve also takes a combination of fish oil and cod liver oil (rich in vitamins A and D). It’s been shown that people with Alzheimer’s disease as a group are deficient in DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid) and DHA is a large component of the brain and crucial to its normal functioning. Dr. Newport referred to a study that showed that people with Alzheimer’s may be deficient in an enzyme in the liver that converts the shorter vegetable form of omega-3 fatty acids found in soybean and flax oils to the DHA and EPA forms of omega-3 fatty acids needed by the brain and other organs. Therefore she believes that it is important to include a marine source of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. She recommends an algae form marketed to pregnant women, available in pharmacies, to those who have a problem taking fish oil. Coconut oil contains some omega-6, but no omega-3 fatty acids.INCORPORATING COCONUT OIL INTO YOUR DIET
According to Dr. Newport, coconut oil can be substituted for any solid or liquid oil, lard, butter or margarine in baking or cooking on the stove, and can be mixed directly into foods already prepared. Some people take it straight with a spoon, but for most people it may be hard to swallow this way and more pleasant to take with food. When cooking on the stove, coconut oil smokes if heated to greater than 350 degrees F. or medium heat. You can avoid this problem by adding a little olive or peanut oil. Coconut oil can be used at any temperature in the oven when mixed in foods.Coconut milk is a combination of the oil and the water from the coconut and most of the calories are from the oil. Look for brands with 10 to 13 grams of fat in 2 ounces. Look in the grocery store’s Asian section. Some brands are less expensive but are diluted with water. Coconut cream is mostly coconut milk and sometimes has added sugar. Flaked or grated coconut can be purchased unsweetened or sweetened and is a very good source of coconut oil and fiber and has about 15 grams oil and 3 grams fiber in ¼ cup. Frozen or canned coconut meat usually has a lot of added sugar and not much oil per serving. A fresh coconut can be cut up into pieces and eaten raw. A 2” x 2” piece has about 160 calories with 15 grams of oil and 4 grams of fiber. MCT Oil (medium-chain triglycerides) are part of the coconut oil and can also be purchased in some health food stores or online. This may be useful for people who are on the go and do not have much time to cook. Also, MCT oil is used as energy and not stored as fat, so it may be useful for someone who wants to lose weight, if substituted for some of the other fats in the diet. Coconut water does not usually contain coconut oil, but has other health benefits. The electrolyte composition is similar to human plasma and is useful to prevent or treat dehydration.
The above nutrition and research information along with support information for caretakers, recipes, and so much more are available at Dr. Newport’s website www.coconutketones.com.
Sources of information used in the creation of this edition of A Closer Look include the book Alzheimer's disease: What If There Was a Cure? The Story of Ketones by Mary T. Newport, MD (Copyright © 2011; Published by Basic Health Publications, October 7, 2011), Dr. Mary Newport’s blog: Coconut Oil and Ketones, and the CBN News story "Coconut Oil" by medical reporter Lorie Johnson that first aired on January 5, 2012.
