Benefits Of Mct Oil For Other Brain Disorders
MCT oil shows great potential for treating a wide range of mood and neurological disorders.
Heres a look at what the research shows so far.
A ketogenic diet plus MCT oil supplementation holds promise for treating autism.
MCTs can be helpful for depression.
Researchers have deemed coconut oil an antidepressant functional food due to its unique combination of MCTs and antioxidants.
Mild cognitive impairment is an intermediate stage of mental decline that occurs before a diagnosis of dementia is made.
When MCT oil was given to adults with mild cognitive impairment, they experienced significant improvement in memory recall within 90 minutes of taking their first dose.
Note that this study has often been cited by supplement manufacturers as evidence that MCT oil will increase mental performance in everyone.
This is not necessarily the case.
Currently, theres minimal scientific evidence that MCT oil increases mental performance in healthy adults.
STAY INFORMED!
Our Brain PowerUp Guide is yours FREE when you subscribe to our world-class information on brain health & performance.
Consume Healthy Oils On A Dementia Diet
Coconut oil is one of the best oils that you can consume on a dementia diet. If youre cooking a dish that wont pair well with coconut oil, or if youre just wanting to branch out a bit, there are other healthy oil options.
Check out these other healthy oils you can consume on a dementia diet:
- Caprylic acid this MCT derived from coconut or palm oil that has been shown to help improve cognitive function in Alzheimers patients. However, nut and seed oils should be used sparingly due to the nature of the oil extraction process.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Grape seed oil
- Walnut oil
Caregivers should aim to add more of these healthy oils to their loved ones dementia diet. When combined with other lifestyle changes, they can help improve the symptoms of Alzheimers and dementia. Theyre also an auspicious addition for preventing cognitive decline early.
Does Coconut Oil Help Prevent Dementia
There have been some claims that coconut oil could be used as a treatment, or even a cure, for Alzheimer’s disease. However, there is currently not enough experimental evidence to back up these claims.The claim is based on the theory that the brain cells of people with Alzheimer’s disease are unable to use glucose to produce energy properly, and so the nerve cells ‘starve’.
Some believe coconut oil may act as an alternative energy source for the brain. However, there is not enough scientific evidence to know whether this is the case.
Recommended Reading: What Stage Of Alzheimer’s Is Hallucinations
What’s A Ketogenic Diet
At first glance, a ketogenic diet seems the polar opposite of eating plans that experts have linked to brain and heart health. For example, the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet which has been shown to lower high blood pressure, a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease is 33 percent fat, 38 percent carbohydrates and 26 percent protein.
A typical ketogenic diet, though, is 70 to 80 percent fat, 10 to 20 percent protein and 5 to 10 percent carbohydrate. For a 2,000-calorie daily intake, this translates to about 165 grams of fat, 40 grams of carbohydrate and 75 grams of protein. It eliminates most fruits and virtually all starchy vegetables , plus beans and grains. Avocados, eggs, nuts, cruciferous vegetables, and most meats and cheeses, however, are OK.
A ketogenic diet typically produces weight loss as the body metabolizes stored fat. But it also offers other benefits. For example, the diet is very effective in treating some kinds of drug-resistant epilepsy. It’s also being investigated in diabetes, cancer and a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
How The Ketoflex Diet Works
What is a good dementia diet? A good dementia diet is the KetoFLEX diet. In fact, its one of the best diets you can follow if you want to improve cognition and prevent or reverse cognitive decline.
The KetoFLEX diet was developed by renowned Alzheimers expert Dr. Dale Bredesen. KetoFLEX is based on decades of research into the best ways to reverse cognitive impairment and prevent cognitive decline.
On the KetoFLEX diet, patients eat primarily plant-based whole foods. Youll focus on eating a rainbow of darkly-colored vegetables and low-glycemic fruit. As much of the produce as possible should be locally and organically grown.
Youll also eat healthy fats on the KetoFLEX diet. These include virgin coconut oil , extra virgin olive oil, whole avocados, avocado oil, seeds, and nuts. Fats will help your body go into ketosis, and theyll help keep you feeling full, too.
Foods that support gut health are another important part of the KetoFLEX diet. Youll eat prebiotic and probiotic foods, including foods with a lot of resistant starch. These foods help you cultivate healthy microbiota in your gut, and these bacteria keep your brain and body balanced.
This science-backed diet is mildly ketogenic . Traditional keto diets require you to eat almost no carbohydrates, which is incredibly difficult for most people. The KetoFLEX diet allows you to eat healthy carbohydrates from non-starchy vegetables, so its easier to stick to the plan.
Read Also: Why Do Dementia Patients Not Sleep At Night
Coconut Oil And Mct Oil For Dementia
Coconut oil is composed predominantly of medium chain triglycerides . MCT oil is an easy way to get large concentrations of certain MCT. It usually contains C8, C10 or a combination of the two. The theory behind MCT potentially improving cognition is based on ketone bodies produced by metabolized coconut oil. Neurons in the brain use these ketone bodies for fuel, thus improving cognitive function.
Carnitines Connection With Ammonia
As I discussed above, dementia is hallmarked, especially in the later stages, by ammonia accumulation in the brain, and we discussed the ways that this might happen due to changes in the gut associated with protein metabolism and the urea cycle.
Valproic and octanoic acids, both C8 MCTs, have been shown to exacerbate ammonia toxicity, and it should not surprise you that one of the mechanisms by which this happens is via the depletion of carnitine. Though octanoics carnitine depleting properties have not been well studied, it has been established that the valproic acid metabolite, 4-en-valproic acid, directly impairs the urea cycle, thereby blocking proper ammonia elimination.
All C8 medium-chain fatty acids are capable of a similar metabolic fate, which involves hydroxylation of the omega-methyl group as a first-step reaction in omega oxidation. It is more likely to occur when beta-oxidation is impaired, as a result of carnitine deficiency, by genetic defect, or a combination of the two.
Carnitine supplementation is actually one of the antidotes for valproic acid overdose.83 Supplementation with only 1 g per day for 30 days is enough to decrease ammonia levels and raise the seizure threshold.
Recommended Reading: Does Loss Of Hearing Lead To Dementia
The Final Insult: Fire In The Brain
Last, but certainly not least, I would like to talk about MCT interactions with the endocrine system, specifically glucocorticoids. As I have mentioned above, one of the reasons that MCT-laden diets have been adopted for weight loss is because they are much less likely to promote adipocyte differentiation, due to their absorption directly into portal circulation. Nonetheless, caprylic acid has shown the ability to produce more fat cells in the presence of dexamethasone.
Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid medication with properties similar to cortisol. In one experiment, consumption of octanoic acid alone for 9 days had no effect on adipogenesis . By adding dexamethasone, however, for an initial period of time, lipid droplets were already appearing at day 3. By the time day 9 was reached, lipid accumulation was present in nearly 50% of all cells.402
The higher the dose of octanoic acid, the more prominent the lipid accumulation. It has been hypothesized that corticosteroids may facilitate the storage of octanoic acid and its metabolites in cellular triglycerides, partially via the p38-MAPK pathway a pathway which has been shown to govern adipocyte differentiation. In fact, octanoic acid stimulation of adipogenesis is specifically mediated by that pathway.
Mcts Cause Gi Disease
Perhaps the most troubling effect of MCTs are their ability to affect the localization of claudin which plays a crucial role in tight-junction integrity in the gut.345 The sodium salt of decanoic acid , for example, is a well-known enhancer of tight-junction permeability.
When decanoic acid comes in contact with tight-junctions, it changes the distribution of actin filaments and claudin proteins, specifically claudin-1 . Ordinarily, only ions, water, and water-soluble molecules are allowed through the tight-junctions of the gut. These junctions are comprised of occludin, claudin, and junctional adhesion molecule .346
Though occludin is important for organizing the structure of the tight junctions, it does not play a role in their assembly. Rather, it is the claudin family that is primarily responsible as the gate-keeper of the gut,347 and they can be regulated by various stimuli that include foods, drugs, and chemicals. In particular, decanoic acid has been shown to increase the passage of otherwise prohibited molecules across the tight junctions by contracting actin filaments.348349
Don’t Miss: Is There A Cure To Dementia
Health Benefits Of Mct Oil In Weight Loss Alzheimers Disease Autism Managing Epilepsy Lowering Cholesterol
MCT stands for medium-chain triglycerides. MCT oil is made up of medium-length chains of fats known as triglycerides. Due to the shorter lengths of medium-chain triglycerides, they are easily digested by the body. MCT oil is typically extracted from coconut oil, and more than 50 percent of all the fat content in coconut oil is derived from MCTs. The interest in medium-chain triglycerides has grown rapidly in recent years due to the many health benefits associated with MCT oil. MCT oil is today widely used as a supplement by bodybuilders and athletes. Here are some of the health benefits of MCT oil.
Allergic Inflammation And Anaphylaxis
Highly allergenic foods such as peanuts are known to contain high levels of triglycerides, but it was never presumed that they could play a role in allergic reactions directly. It was later found that triglycerides increase antigen absorption, thereby elevating sensitivity to them and, in some cases, even causing anaphylaxis, the latter of which happens via both IgG and IgE mediated mechanisms.
MCTs play a unique role in T-helper 2-type allergic responses via their stimulation of thymic stromal lymphopoietin . TSLP is a cytokine produced by the intestinal epithelium which effectively promotes the induction of allergic responses in various ways.
As I have already described above, MCTs are not only capable of exacerbating allergic reaction and antigen absorption into Peyers Patches, but it also has the capability of inducing transient mucosal damage and gut leakiness which can lead to further translocation of antigens from foods into the bloodstream.126 In the above-mentioned study, when LCTs in peanut butter were replaced with MCTs, there was a significantly elevated Th2-mediated allergic response followed by absorption of the peanut antigen into Peyers patches. Anecdotally , you will discover that this same reaction has been reproduced in many different contexts that include eggs, nuts, various vegetables, and even meats, to varying degrees. Few suspect that MCT could have been at the root of an acquired food allergy.
Read Also: Can You Die From Alzheimer’s
What Is Mct Oil
MCT stands for Medium-Chain Triglycerides . MCTs are a top source of healthy fats. They are easily digested and sent directly to the liver. They have a unique ability to positively affect metabolism and are burned as fuel instead of being stored as fat. Conversely, long-chain fatty acids, like most vegetable oils and most saturated fats, for example, are larger molecules, harder to break down, and more easily stored as fat in the body.
There are four kinds of medium-chain triglycerides: lauric acid, capric acid, caprylic acid, and caproic acid. Nature’s richest source of MCT comes from coconut oil. Coconut oil contains all four kinds of MCTs. Approximately 60% of the fatty acids in coconut oil are MCTs. Pure MCT oil also exists and can be purchased as a supplement. MCT oil is a highly concentrated source of medium-chain triglycerides. It’s derived from extracting and isolating MCTs from coconut oil or palm kernel oil, and it generally contains either just caprylic acid, capric acid, or a combination of the two.
It’s debated whether MCT oil or coconut oil is “better.” MCT oil is thought to be more rapidly absorbed by the body and, thus, serves as quicker energy. Coconut oil, although perhaps less quickly absorbed, contains lauric acid, which is known to be antimicrobial and provides other health benefits above and beyond energy.
How do oils help with Alzheimer’s disease?
> > > Breaking: Scientist Finds 1 Way To Fix Alzheimer And Memory Loss
A doctor will perform a physical exam to evaluate your mental processes. He or she will also ask you about any medications youre currently taking and any stressful situations youre facing. Your memory loss provider may also ask you about your symptoms and ask you to take notes on how youre feeling. The doctor may recommend that you get an appointment with a neuropsychologist. A neuropsychologist can help you figure out the best way to treat your memory loss.
A doctor will conduct a physical exam to determine the exact cause of your memory loss. He or she will also ask you about your medical history and whether youve experienced other forms of memory loss. After your medical history, your provider will discuss your options for treatment. If youre experiencing severe symptoms of memory loss, you should seek out a professional. It will help you get the right kind of care for your specific situation. So, take action today.
A healthcare provider will perform a physical exam to assess the condition of your memory. He or she will ask you about your family and friends and any medications youre taking. Once he or she has established the root cause, a proper treatment will be given. If you have a mild form of memory loss, you can still function independently and perform everyday tasks. If your symptoms are more severe, you may need to see a medical professional.
Don’t Miss: Can A Person Die Of Alzheimer’s
Mcts Disrupt Liver Detoxification
Clearly, I could conclude this article now with only the information I have shared thus far. The truth of the matter is, however, that my research on the subject has revealed other areas which are equally as important for the purposes of thoroughly and completely quantifying the risks of MCTs.
The time has come to take this poison off the shelves, and I need for you to have all the facts to come to this same conclusion. Without such a complete perspective, there is a possibility that it may continue to be a popular dietary item, and my conscience would simply not permit that to happen. So we must continue.
You might be wondering at this point what exactly happens to MCTs if they are not properly utilized or there has been an accumulation due to overconsumption or other metabolic block? The answer lies in the liver, where excess MCTs and their metabolites are glucuronidated in preparation for their excretion.
Mcts Induce Nitrosative Stress
One of the other ways that decanoic acid can induce brain damage is via its inhibition of alcohol dehydrogenase . ADH is responsible for reducing S-Nitroglutathione , which plays a major role in nitric oxide signaling and is a source of bioavailable NO.311 GSNO is reduced by ADH3 to S-hydroxylaminoglutathione which, in the presence of reduced glutathione , forms oxidized glutathione . Both GSH and GSSH inhibit glutamatergic signaling by binding to NMDA and AMPA receptors.312
By inhibiting GSNO reduction to GSH and GSSG, decanoic acid can potentially increase neuronal nitric oxide formation. This leads to increased neuronal nitrosative stress, overexcitation and neurodegeneration. Because ADH3 also plays a role in formaldehyde detoxification, this inhibition can further lead to formaldehyde accumulation in certain contexts.313 Not surprisingly, formaldehyde interferes with DNA-methyltransferase function, which is critical for both the formation of recent memory and the maintenance of remote memory.314 As a matter of fact, measurement of formaldehyde in overnight fasting urine has be been proposed as a noninvasive method for evaluation of dementia risk.315
Also Check: Why Should Dementia Be Viewed As A Disability
Arguments Against The Criticism:
Healthimpactnews.com disputes many of the issues listed above. For one, they cite a 2010 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that followed 350,000 people over 23 years. The study exonerated saturated fat, like the fat in coconut oil, from causing heart disease. No relation was found between the two. Also, there is a reference to a study in the American Journal of Cardiology from 2011 that cites an increase in HDL with longevity and mental health. Coconut oil can help to increase HDL cholesterol.
There is also a video of 5 esteemed medical doctors, a nutritionist, and a nutrition journalist who discuss coconut oil and Alzheimer’s. In it, they note that coconut oil can be beneficial and provide ketones even in the presence of a higher carbohydrate diet.
It is difficult to find mention of acetylcholinesterase in coconut oil. That is a topic that still needs to be researched and reviewed. However, coconut oil does appear to be neuro-protective in its purest form.
Potential Of Coconut Oil And Medium Chain Triglycerides In The Prevention And Treatment Of Alzheimers Disease
Brain glucose hypometabolism is a major early hallmark of AD.
-
CO is a rich source of MCT, and ketone bodies arise from MCT metabolism.
-
Ketone bodies serve as an alternative energy source for the glucose-deficient brain.
-
CO, MCT and their derivatives show evidence of neuroprotective properties.
-
CO, MCT and their derivatives show evidence of influencing AD related risk factors.
Don’t Miss: Does Medicare Cover Nursing Home Care For Dementia Patients