Alzheimer’s Cure?

A friend who knows that my husband has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, sent me a link

to a website that had information on incorporating coconut oil in his diet to improve his condition.  I was just ‘blown away’ by what I read and viewed on video clips about this miraculous ‘cure’. If the coconut oil is started before the dementia is advanced, it can usually reverse the process and restore the person’s memory, energy and personality.

Like most people, for a long time I avoided anything to do with coconuts because there was so much talk some years ago about how it raised cholesterol levels and caused heard disease. That happened to be a case of a little knowledge being a bad thing. With more detailed research we now know that there are two kinds of ‘cholesterol’ – bad LDL and good HDL – and that coconut oil increases the level of the good HDL to the extent it tends to clear out the bad plaque blockages in your arteries.

It has been known for some time that Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the amyloid protein in the brain but the way it operates to cause Alzheimer’s was a mystery. Now studies show that the real cause is that the brain becomes resistant to the absorption of blood sugar. That means the brain cells die of starvation unless they have a source of a type of compound called ‘ketones’ that the brain cells can use as ‘food’ instead.  Ketones are scarce in the blood stream because to make them, the liver needs ‘medium chain triglerides’ [MCT] that are found in coconut oil. Unfortunately, the oil can provide only relatively low levels of ketones and, since the beneficial effect of ketones is directly related to the amount available in the blood, much better sources are been studied by Dr. Richard Veech. Hopefully a ketone ester will eventually be available in capsule form, and it would be a much easier way to ingest it for those who find it difficult to eat enough coconut oil.

In doing the research before writing this post, I found a lot of other good news about coconut oil and ketones. They can also greatly benefit those with other neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease, ALS [Lou Gehrig’s disease], epilepsy, dementia, schizophrenia, autism, etc.  It also helps those with sluggish metabolism because of hypothyroid problems and that results in weight loss of excess fat.

I found out that for those who are candidates for Alzheimer’s disease, the process of brain cell starvation actually starts 10-20 years before there are actual symptoms so its use especially as a cooking oil is a good plan especially if there is a history of demensia in your family.  A word of warning, check the label and be sure to get non hydrogenated, virgin coconut oil.   Rie