Coconut Oil, Ketones, Spring Hill couple's Alzheimer's fight tries boost in brain superfuel

I don't know how I find this stuff, but this article really is amazing!

Mary Newport, a pediatrician who runs Spring Hill's neonatalogy clinic, scrounges for any Alzheimer's information she can find. Her husband is an accountant who began struggling with numbers in his mid 50s.

Last year, she ran across a report of Axona's clinical trials, well before it hit the market. Not wanting to wait, she began feeding her husband large doses of virgin, nonhydrogenated coconut oil, available at Wal-Mart for less than $7 a quart.

Coconut oil contains a mixture of saturated fats. The liver converts some into ketones. Others float around in the bloodstream, which is why cardiologists usually discourage its use.

The effect on Steve Newport was immediate.

"He said it was like someone had turned on a lightbulb,'' Mary Newport says. "He was alert, smiling, joking. He was Steve again. He was back.''



http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/research/article1024137.ece




They are brain boosters from caveman days that allow humans to survive on nothing but water.

They nurture newborns right out of the womb.

Now ketones — a kind of superfuel for brain cells— are drawing interest as possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

In March, a Colorado company began touting Axona, the first FDA-approved "medical food'' for people with Alzheimer's. The key ingredient is a saturated fat that the liver converts into ketones.

Meanwhile, a federal scientist is examining whether ketones might help soldiers think and fight better. He hopes to expand his work to people with Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's.

Then there is Spring Hill resident Steve Newport. His wife retrieved him from an Alzheimer's funk 14 months ago by loading him up with saturated fats found in coconut oil.

He says he feels "alive again."

This does not mean the promised land is around the corner.

Coconut and other ketone-producing oils can cause diarrhea and cramping. Cardiologists say they will clog arteries.

Still, the science behind ketone bodies is intriguing and caregiver bulletin boards are sprinkled with hopeful anecdotes.

An 83-year-old woman in Connecticut is dressing herself again.

A 62-year-old man in California is cracking off-color puns.

And in Spring Hill, Steve Newport mows the lawn without disassembling the John Deere.

• • •