How Coconut Oil May Rescue The Brain From Alzheimer's Disease

 

October 30, 2013  Sayer Ji, Founder

 

 

The internet loves a good "natural cure" recovery story. For instance, when Dr. Mary Newport, MD, dramatically reverses her husband's symptoms of Alzheimer's disease after just two weeks of adding coconut oil to his diet, thousands enthusiastically share the story. But despite their popularity, anecdotes rarely stand the test of time, nor the scrutiny of the medical community, at least not like experimental research published in peer-reviewed biomedical journals. 

All the more reason to celebrate a promising new study soon to be published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease titled, "Coconut Oil Attenuates the Effects of Amyloid-β on Cortical Neurons In Vitro."[i] The study lends fresh experimental support to an accumulating body of anecdotal reports that coconut oil may alleviate and/or regress cognitive deficits associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's. 

Medical researchers from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada, undertook a pilot study to investigate the effects of coconut oil supplementation directly on cortical neurons treated with amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide in vitro. Aβ peptide is the main component of certain deposits found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease believed to contribute to the disease. 

The researchers concluded, "The results of this pilot study provide a basis for further investigation of the effects of coconut oil, or its constituents, on neuronal survival focusing on mechanisms that may be involved."

Clearly, one of the ways that coconut oil can 'rescue' the brains of Alzheimer's patients is by addressing the metabolic derangement in the brain associated with the condition, or what is known as "type 3 diabetes." As the brain ages, it becomes increasingly resistant to insulin, and therefore incapable of using glucose efficiently to meet its significant energy needs -- hence the metaphor "type 3 diabetes." Thankfully, nature has devised an alternative fuel source for the brain that is independent of glucose utilization and the insulin signaling system, namely, the use of ketone bodies.  Coconut oil provides the substrate for the immediate production of these ketone bodies, enabling significant quantities to be produced within a matter of only minutes following ingestion. This metabolic restoration of function may explain why remarkable recoveries in cognitive function and memory have been observed, anecdotally.

Putting the science aside for a moment, coconut, like walnuts, both obey the so-called 'doctrine of signatures.' Both foods are encased by a skull-like shell, and contain within a fatty acid-rich 'meat,' that feed the organ – the brain – they resemble.  Could the poetry of our direct experience tell us something about the value this food has to our brain, or should we continue to play agnostic and exercise great caution incorporating a 'food as medicine' approach until the men in white coats, and powerful economic forces behind them willing to shell out millions, if not billions of dollars, to "prove" in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled fashion something we probably already know is true?

For additional research on the benefits of coconut oil visit our research page on the topic: coconut oil health benefits. Or, visit our neurodegenerative diseases page for dozens of natural substances studied that may help these conditions.

 

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[i] Firoozeh Nafar, Karen M Mearow. Coconut Oil Attenuates the Effects of Amyloid-β on Cortical Neurons In Vitro.

 

[ii] Wlaz P, Socala K, Nieoczym D, Luszczki JJ, Zarnowska 296 I, Zarnowski T, Czuczwar SJ, Gasior M (2012) Anticon- 297 vulsant profile of caprylic acid, a main constituent of the 298 medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) ketogenic diet, in mice. 299 Neuropharmacology 62, 1882-1889.