Alzheimers, ketones and coconuts

[uke2se]

My father is slowly withering away in Alzheimer's disease, and while he has been somewhat responsive to the drugs he is prescribed, it's simply slightly slowing the process. Yesterday, my mother presented me with a few copied pages from a book by Bruce Fife about the effects of coconut oil in treating Alzheimers. I had heard something about this in the past, but to me it sounded like a "miracle cure".

The research I've found online says that it's scientifically unproven, could have unknown or unanticipated side effects, but also that some have reported that it has improved a patient's cognitive abilities. Hence, I'm looking for testimonials.

For my mother, this is a straw to grasp on. I'm considering just letting it be. Should I?

 

[steve s]

Sorry to hear about your dad. My mother had it for the last six years of her life. The drugs didn't do any good for her.

Coconut oil is one of those things that people claim cures just about anything and everything. Over at the diabetes forum that I occasionally view, people are always touting its virtues. Cinnamon is another favorite of the woos. Take all the testimonials with a grain of salt.

Steve S

 

[meg]

My sympathy is with you. My dad was also a victim of Alzheimer's. He passed in 2011.

Regarding the coconut oil, I don't think there's any evidence that it really does anything to improve Alzheimer's disease. However, a side effect of most AD medications is loss of appetite, so upping his caloric intake with some coconut oil might actually help him maintain his weight. (And you did say he was withering away) On the other hand, another side effect of many of those meds is nausea and diarrhea, so adding a whole lot of extra fat into his diet might turn out to be problematic and messy.

I guess I'm saying I doubt it will hurt him if your mom starts cooking with coconut oil, or adding a little extra oil into his diet. Might even help him a little if he has dry skin or is losing weight (common AD problems). I wouldn't get your hopes up for any kind of big change in his progression or prognosis, though.

Sorry

Just to be clear, I'm not a doctor or medical professional. Just took care of my dad for ten years, and still keep up on AD news and research, because I'm interested.

 

[casebro]

How do the AD rates compare, Pacific Islanders to the rest of us?

 

[meg]

How do the AD rates compare, Pacific Islanders to the rest of us?

Far as I can tell, just from looking quickly at this: http://www.alz.co.uk/research/files/WorldAlzheimerReport-ExecutiveSummary.pdf rates of Australasia, Asia Pacific, and Oceania are similar to North America.

 

[Red Baron Farms]

Sorry to hear about your father. One problem with alternative methods and Alzheimer's disease is that it is far too late once the disease has progressed to this state. They are more along the lines of preventative medicine as opposed to actually being able to treat the disease. Lipid treatments like coconut oil, flax oil, CLA, DHA and Phosphatidylserine do show promise as a preventative or at least a delay of the disease, but they have no statistical benefit in treating the disease. I am sorry. There are certain things like choline, B-12, anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatories like Ginkgo biloba, Idebenone, Vitamin E that all help slightly in best case scenarios, but don't expect any miracle cures. It is too late.

Dementia can be often helped, sometimes dramatically. Actual Alzheimer's disease though is pretty much irreversible, at least for now. New science is always a possibility. They are doing some pretty amazing things now-a-days with stem cells.

 

[macdoc]

Consider the source but it is quoting established reseaerchers in the field

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11310976/Senior-moments-could-becoming-to-an-end.html

 

[uke2se]

Thanks all for your sympathies, and likewise my sympathies to those affected.

I had a talk with my mother about the coconut method to get her to not pin too much hope on a method with no scientific evidence. Turns out she'd already come to terms with that. We'll keep hoping for advancements in the field, but we figure that it's too late in the game to hold out much hope for Dad to get better.

 

[Giordano]

I too am deeply sorry about uke2se's dad. I would only point out that if a commonly available item, like coconut oil, could really help there would already be an enormous number of medical and non-medical people all using it. It would already be in clinical tests, and if successful, used all the time. So don't count on it.

 

[Loss Leader]

My mother is also suffering dementia. My father keeps her on a ketoacidic diet: very low carb and high ketone foods like cooking everthing in coconut oil. She also drinks a medical food every day that is high in ketones (and costs a fortune).

The theory is that the brain suffering dementia has a resistence to glucose, but can still burn ketones.

My impression is that it hasn't made much difference at all. My mother gets significantly worse every year. However, how would she be if she didn't eat like that? We have no way to know. And it keeps my father busy and lets him feel like he's doing something.

There's certainly no harm to the diet. There's not enough science to say it works, either.

I'm sorry if this isn't much help. I'm very ambivelent about it.

 

[casebro]

Uh... what.. is there such a thing as dietary ketones? Acetone? Vinegar?

One of the advantages of coconut oil is that has LOTS of medium chain triglycerides. So if you have a metabolic oroblem with snipping the chains into single molecules, C.Oil is better for you. In fact, the muscle builders buy "Short chain fuel". But I read the label, and it also has longer chains in it. Seems to line right up with C.Oil. So I went with C.Oil. I buy five gallon buckets for $100 delivered instead of $16/pt at the health food stores. (shop the hobbyist soap makers sites, it's all food grade)

 

[psionl0]

My father is slowly withering away in Alzheimer's disease, and while he has been somewhat responsive to the drugs he is prescribed, it's simply slightly slowing the process. Yesterday, my mother presented me with a few copied pages from a book by Bruce Fife about the effects of coconut oil in treating Alzheimers. I had heard something about this in the past, but to me it sounded like a "miracle cure".

That's one of those things that "medicinal marihuana" is supposed to help with.

In the last few years of my mother's life, she regularly had daily drops of a "tincture" made out of hash oil and alcohol. I can't tell if it helped because Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative condition that can't be halted by chemicals. In any case, it was the cancer that killed her off.

BTW beware of some of the doctors that you may deal with when someone has a terminal illness. One idiot decided to prescribe steroids in the last few weeks of her life. That was disastrous! He also expected me to drag her to a radiology clinic at a time when she was too weak to make it from her bed to the portable toilet in her room unaided.

 

[Tatyana]

Uh... what.. is there such a thing as dietary ketones? Acetone? Vinegar?

One of the advantages of coconut oil is that has LOTS of medium chain triglycerides. So if you have a metabolic oroblem with snipping the chains into single molecules, C.Oil is better for you. In fact, the muscle builders buy "Short chain fuel". But I read the label, and it also has longer chains in it. Seems to line right up with C.Oil. So I went with C.Oil. I buy five gallon buckets for $100 delivered instead of $16/pt at the health food stores. (shop the hobbyist soap makers sites, it's all food grade)

In biochemistry, which are the ketones that are significant to us, they are referred to as ketone bodies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone

Ketones are pervasive in nature. The formation of organic compounds in photosynthesis occurs via the ketone ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate. Many sugars are ketones, known collectively as ketoses. The best known ketose is fructose, which exists as a cyclic hemiketal, which masks the ketone functional group. Fatty acid synthesis proceeds via ketones. Acetoacetate is an intermediate in the Krebs cycle which releases energy from sugars and carbohydrates.[8]

 

[casebro]

But Tat, what would be the chemical in a "Ketone containing liquid diet", for some one wanting to go keto-acidic? I don't think fructose would be that.

There are 'short chain fatty acids' that are molecularly distilled from coconut oil. Expensive food, maybe that is it. . Buteric acid chain length 4, and I've seen vinegar described as chain length 1. And I've thought about trying acetone, mixed to about 2%.

But Choline supplementation REALLY turned my myopathy around. For the first time ion my life, exercise loosens my muscles. And no rhabdo or kidney casts.