Loading ...Posts Tagged ‘coconut oil’
An Unlikely Food for a Starving Brain
Several weeks ago I told you about an “aha moment” I had when reading a November 2008 THB article by Jim LaValle on the best way to prevent breast cancer. I had another one of those moments recently as I was editing the May issue of Jim’s subscription newsletter, The Healing Prescription.
I learned several interesting facts in this issue devoted to saving your brain from a cognitive crisis. One of the most significant is that people with Alzheimer’s disease have a certain degree of insulin resistance in their brain cells which prevents them from taking in adequate amounts of glucose, the brain’s primary source of fuel.
Without glucose, a couple of things start happening. First, the brain cells (neurons) cannot produce acetylcholine, the chemical that is needed for memory and cellular communication. Secondly, the neurons begin to die off from a lack of proper nutrition.
You might think when this happens there is little more a person with Alzheimer’s can do than eat a low carb diet to reduce insulin resistance and take a drug like Aricept to help slow the progression of symptoms. While both of these are viable options, medical doctor Mary Newport has discovered that a common tropical food, coconut oil, can provide energy-starved brain cells with an alternative fuel called ketones, which are a product of fat breakdown.
Non-hydrogenated coconut oil is comprised of 60% medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). Upon digestion, the liver breaks down the MCTs into ketones which can then be used by the brain.1
As Jim explains in his article:
Coconuts — Health Food or Foe?
Remember the old song “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts?” (It still lives on You Tube, if you don’t remember.) Coconut and coconut oil are becoming such increasingly popular foods, I think this silly song from the 1940s may make a comeback.
