WHAT IF THERE WAS A CURE FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND NO ONE KNEW?
10 February, 2010 - 08:34
You can get a dose of coconut oil at the Morris Twin theater in Daingerfield. All their popcorn is popped in coconut oil. It is good.
WHAT IF THERE WAS A CURE FOR
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND NO ONE KNEW?
A Case Study by Dr. Mary Newport
July 22, 2008
There is a growing epidemic of obesity,
type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
and predictions that 15,000,000 people
in the United States alone will have Alzheim-
er’s Disease by the year 2050.
In 2001, Dr. Richard L. Veech of the NIH,
and others, published an article entitled, “Ke-
tone bodies, potential therapeutic uses.”1 In
2003, George F. Cahill, Jr. and Richard Veech
authored, “Ketoacids? Good Medicine?”2 and
in 2004, Richard Veech published a review of
the therapeutic implications of ketone bod-
ies.3 These articles are not found in journals
that the average physician would read, much
less the lay public. Unless you are research-
ing the topic, it is unlikely that you would
ever randomly come across this information.
My husband Steve, age 58, has had pro-
gressive dementia for at least five years. He
had an MRI in May 2008 showing a diffuse
involutional change of the frontal and pari-
etal lobes and moderate left-sided and severe
right-sided amygdala and hippocampal atro-
phy with no ischemic change, which would
support a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s
Disease. For non-medical people, this means
that he has shrunken areas of the brain.
Many days, often for several days in a row,
he was in a fog; couldn’t find a spoon or re-
member how to get water out of the refrig-
erator. Some days were not so bad; he almost
seemed like his former self, happy, with his
unique sense of humor, creative, full of ideas.
One day I would ask if a certain call came that
I was expecting and he would say, “No.” Two
days later he would remember the message
from so-and-so from a couple of days earlier
and what they said. Strange to have no short-
term memory and yet the information was
filed somewhere in his brain. My gut feeling
is that diet has something to do with the fluc-
tuation, but what. I knew that he was locked
up in there somewhere, if only there was a
key to open up the areas of his brain that he
didn’t have access to.
Steve has a BSBA in accounting, and did
billing, bookkeeping and accounting for my
neonatology practice from home, so that he
could stay with our girls. He loved computers
and was a fast typist. He could open comput-
ers up to repair them and fix practically any-
thing else without ever having instruction.
If he did not have a tool to do something he
would “invent” it and make a usable proto-
type. He loved to kayak and made an attach-
ment to keep his kayak moving in a straight
line. About five years ago he began to have
trouble organizing to do his accounting work.
He would procrastinate as much as possible.
He made mistakes with the payroll and I be-
gan to sit with him to help him get it right. I
thought it was just that our practice had got-
ten more complicated with more employees. He
knew that something was wrong and depression
set in. We took him to a neurologist about 4 years
ago, who did a Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE,)
and Steve scored a 23 out of 30, putting him into
the mild range of dementia. On this test, the lower
the score is, the worse the dementia. His MRI was
reported as normal at that time.
About three years ago, Steve started taking
Aricept and two years ago Namenda. We were
hopeful that, if we could slow his decline enough, a
treatment would come along that would turn things
around for him. He was changed over from Aricept to
Exelon in August 2007 after losing ten pounds
over several weeks. In the past 12 months there
was a noticeable change. He can no longer cook
for himself, remember to eat a good meal, use a
calculator or even perform the simplest addition,
however he still keeps busy all day working in the
yard or in his garage and he is still in good physical
condition. I now do all the cooking for a man who
used to cook for his family regularly. I give him the
medications because he can’t remember to take
them, much less take the right pills. Every night,
we hold each other before we go to sleep and I won-
der how many more times we will get to do this. It
has been a nightmare to watch his decline and feel
helpless to do anything but watch it happen. He is
fully aware of his dementia, and we talk about it fre-
quently. He is no longer depressed, probably with
the help of counseling, Lexipro and Wellbutrin, or
maybe worsening of his disease.
I subscribe to various alerts and check the
website www.clinicaltrials.gov periodically to look
for drug studies that he may qualify for. Two years
ago we tried to get him into a study for a promis-
ing anti-inflammatory drug, Flurizan, but he did
not qualify because he had a history of depression
within the previous two years. Wouldn’t you be de-
pressed if you knew you had Alzheimer’s? In fact,
depression may be a symptom or precursor of Al-
zheimer’s.
Until very recently, I didn’t see anything re-
garding the potential use of medium chain trig-
lycerides (MCT oil), or ketone bodies (also called
ketoacids,) the end product of their metabolism,
which may not only treat, but also prevent Alzheim-
er’s disease. Further, this is a potential treatment
for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease,
multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclero-
sis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), drug resistant
epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and diabetes type
II, where there is insulin resistance. Ketone bodies
may help the brain recover after a loss of oxygen in
newborns through adults, may help the heart re-
cover after an acute attack, and may shrink cancer-
ous tumors. Children with drug resistant epilepsy
sometimes respond to an extremely low carbohy-
drate ketogenic diet. MCT oil appears to be useful
as an aid in weight loss and body builders use it
already to improve their lean body mass (MCT oil
can be easily purchased on the internet.) Athletes
and soldiers could use MCT oil as a source of fuel
when the body runs out of carbohydrates, which
occurs rather quickly when food is not readily
available.
What do these entities have in common? Our
cells can use ketone bodies as an alternative fuel
when glucose is not available. Brain cells, specifi-
cally neurons, are very limited, more limited than
other cells, in what kinds of fuel they can use to
function and to stay alive. Normally, they require
glucose (sugar), but they can also use ketone bod-
ies. Humans do not normally have ketone bodies
circulating and available to the brain unless they
have been starving for a couple of days or longer,
or are consuming a ketogenic (very low carbohy-
drate) diet, such as Atkins. In Alzheimer’s disease,
the neurons in certain areas of the brain are un-
able to take in glucose4, 5 due to insulin resistance
and slowly die off, a process that appears to happen
one or more decades before the symptoms become
apparent. If these cells had access to ketone bod-
ies, they could potentially stay alive and continue
to function. It appears that persons with Parkin-
son’s disease,6 Huntington’s disease, 7 multiple
need to take 35 grams or just over two table-
spoons (about 35 ml or 7 level teaspoons) of
coconut oil. The following morning, around
9 A.M., I made oatmeal for breakfast and
stirred two tablespoons, plus more for “good
luck,” into his portion. I had some as well,
since I cannot expect him to eat something
that I won’t eat.
On the way to the 1:00 P.M. screening,
I tried to prepare Steve by asking him the
season, the month, the day of the week, re-
minding him that we were going to Tampa,
in Hillsborough county. He couldn’t remem-
ber the word “spring,” came up with April
instead of May for the month every time I
asked him and he couldn’t remember it was
Wednesday. During the hour-long drive, we
went through these facts at least 10 times,
but he still couldn’t remember. Shortly after
we arrived he was whisked away for the test,
about 4 ½ hours after consuming the coconut
oil. When he returned, he was very unhappy
about his performance. Laura, the research
coordinator, returned shortly thereafter and
began to take his vital signs and blood pres-
sure, and, suspecting that we were continu-
ing with the screening process, I asked her
if she could share his score with us. She
said, “Didn’t he tell you? He scored an 18!”
more than he needed to qualify for the vac-
cine study. He remembered it was spring, it
was May, it was Wednesday, that he was in
Tampa, in Hillsborough county and that we
were at the Byrd Institute, all points that he
missed on the previous attempt at USF. As a
result of the screening, we learned that he is
positive for APOE4, but do not know at this
time if he has one or two copies.
According to the Ketasyn studies, Steve
should not have improved, but rather he
should have stayed about the same. Since then
he has retested for the Eli Lilly study drug,
now available closer to home and scored an
MMSE of 17 - he even remembered the date
of July 2, 2008 this time. We have decided, af-
ter looking at the potential side effects of the
vaccine for APOE4+ people, to go with the Eli
Lilly drug.
At the time of this writing it has been
60 days since he started taking coconut oil
(May 21, 2008.) He walks into the kitchen
every morning alert and happy, talkative,
making jokes. His gait is still a little weird.
His tremor is no longer very noticeable. He is
able to concentrate on things that he wants to
do around the house and in the yard and stay
on task, whereas before coconut oil he was
easily distractible and rarely accomplished
anything unless I supervised him directly, a
source of some contention between us!
After about two weeks, and again at 37
days, after starting the coconut oil, I asked
him to draw a clock (see Clocks #2 and #3.)
There is an obvious marked improvement. I
promise that I did not help him. He tells me
that he could not even picture a clock at the
St. Pete screening, but with the last two at-
tempts, he was very concerned that the 6 was
opposite the 12 and the 9 opposite the 3 on
the face of the clock. He drew “spokes” to
and ALS9 have a similar defect in utilizing glucose
but in different areas of the brain or spinal cord.
MCT oil is digested differently by the body
than other fats. Instead of storing all MCTs as fat,
the liver converts them directly to ketone bodies,
which are then available for use as energy. Oral
and intravenous administration of MCT oil produc-
es hyperketonemia, 10 or circulating ketone bodies,
which are then available to the brain for energy, in
the absence of glucose19 and even in the presence
of glucose.22 In addition, hyperketonemia results in
a substantial (39%) increase in cerebral blood flow,
18 and appears to reduce cognitive dysfunction as-
sociated with systemic hypoglycemia in normal
humans. 19
About 2 months ago, we took Steve to the
Johnny B. Byrd, Jr. Alzheimer’s Institute at Uni-
versity of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida
for an annual evaluation and screening for a vac-
cine study (Elan.) He was fasting for blood work
and had an MMSE of 12, much too low to qualify
for the vaccine study – a minimum score of 16 was
required. We were very disappointed, but were ad-
vised that we could come back another time to try
again, since he met all of the other criteria.
We made an appointment in mid-May 2008 in
St. Petersburg, Florida to screen Steve for an Eli
Lilly gamma-secretase inhibitor and made another
appointment for Steve to be screened for entry
into the Elan study at USF the following day. The
evening before the first screening in St. Pete, I re-
searched the two drugs to help us decide which
drug to choose, should he qualify for both studies.
I came across another drug, Ketasyn, or AC-1202,
that was also recruiting healthy older people to
test the tolerability of three different formulations.
Investigating further, I learned that this treatment
brought about significant improvement over a 90-
day period in about half of the subjects who had a
certain genetic profile (APOE2 or APOE3.) The
APOE4 group remained about the same, whereas
the controls (people taking the placebo) contin-
ued to show decline. The results were even more
impressive for people who were already taking
certain Alzheimer’s medications. In a pilot study,
some people improved on memory testing with the
very first dose. Upon doing an internet search for
Ketasyn, I found a January 2008 patent application
(see www.freepatentsonline.com ,)10 a continuation
of a 2000 application, 75 pages long, with a well-
written and thorough description of the science of
Alzheimer’s disease and description of the “inven-
tion,” including these study results and numerous
potential formulations in combination with other
substances that may enhance its effect.
I learned that the promising “ingredient” in
Ketasyn is simply MCT oil, and that a dose of 20
grams (about 20 ml or 4 teaspoons) was used to
produce these results. The MCT oil that these re-
searchers used was obtained from Stepan Compa-
ny and consists of primarily 6 and 8 carbon chains,
however they state that MCT of any combination of
medium chains (6 to 12 carbon chains are medium
chain) would also be effective. Just once in this ap-
plication, the author mentions that MCT oil is de-
rived from coconut or palm oil (this is incorrect,
the author should have stated palm kernel oil.)
I didn’t know at that point that I could easily
purchase MCT oil online, so I researched coconut
oil and found out that coconut oil is about 60% me-
dium chain fatty acids (MCFA), contains no cho-
lesterol and also contains omega-6 fatty acids and
some other short and long chain fatty acids of up
to 18 carbon chains. 11 Coconut oil can be found in
many health food stores and even some grocery
stores. Wal-Mart sells a non-hydrogenated (no
transfat) brand of coconut oil in a one-liter size
(almost 32 ounce containers) for about $7 in our
area of Florida. It can be purchased in quantities
as small as a pint and up to five gallons online. It is
important to use coconut oil that is non-hydroge-
nated and contains no transfat. There is a widely
held misconception that coconut oil is the “artery
clogging oil,” a term coined in the mid-1900’s by
the president of Proctor and Gamble, the manufac-
turer of Crisco and other hydrogenated vegetable
oils. The early studies in animals used hydrogenat-
ed coconut oil, which we now know produces the
notorious trans-fats, and the essential fatty acids
were excluded from the diet. 13
The largest producer of coconut oil is the Phil-
ippines, where coconut and its oil are food staples,
and it is also produced in India, Thailand and other
parts of Southeast Asia, the Caribbean islands and
even in south Florida. The Philippines has one of
the lowest incidences of cardiovascular disease in
the world. Studies have shown that total cholester-
ol to HDL ratio improves with non-hydrogenated
coconut oil.14, 15, 16, 17 The people in this part of the
world also eat fish regularly, providing them with
omega-3 fatty acids, which probably contributes as
well to the lack of cardiovascular disease. My nurse
friends from the Philippines tell me that many of
their relatives back home cook everything in coco-
nut oil and have coconut in one form or another at
nearly every meal.
I have also learned that after coconut and palm
kernel oil, the food that medium chain triglycerides
are most concentrated in is human breast milk. 12 It
is also found in smaller concentrations in goat and
cow’s milk, as well as the butters from these milks.
In fact, we used to add MCT oil 20-25 years ago to
premature formulas to add calories, and MCT, co-
conut and palm oils are currently added to prema-
ture and full term infant formulas, along with ARA
and DHA to mimic breast milk.
Back to Steve, it was too late to find coconut
oil before the first screening. On the way, I remind-
ed him repeatedly that we were in St. Petersburg,
in Pinellas County. On the MMSE, he remembered
the city but not the county, and he couldn’t remem-
ber the season, the month or day of the week,
much less the date, even though he had to initial
and date numerous pages of consent forms be-
fore the MMSE. He had to be reminded on every
single page where to initial and what the date was
and even how to write out the date. He scored a
14, too low for entry into the study. Dr. Margarita
Nunez spent considerable time with us and asked
Steve to draw a clock (see clock #1), which she
said was a specific test for Alzheimer’s. She took
me aside and told me that his “clock” indicated he
was leaning more towards severe than moderate
AD, a devastating, but not surprising revelation to
me, considering that I am his wife of 36 years and
now his caretaker.
Thinking, what have we got to lose, we stopped
at a health food store on the way home and picked
up a quart of 100% “virgin” coconut oil. I calculated
that in order to provide 20 gm of MCT, he would
help them line up. I did not ask him to try to
put in a time, the next part of that test.
Steve has not been able to type for at least
two years, but he feels that he can picture
the position of the letters on the keyboard.
At this point he is afraid to sit down and try
to type, worried that he will be discouraged
if it doesn’t come back right away. We are
considering trying occupational therapy to
see if he can relearn some of the skills he has
lost. I cannot explain why he has improved,
except that perhaps the 10 and 12 carbon
chains are important, or the APOE4 people in the
Ketasyn studies were not taking omega-3 fatty ac-
ids. We eat salmon at least twice a week and take
fish oil supplements twice a day and have for at
least the past two years.
I have been researching on the internet ev-
erything I can find about coconut oil, MCT oil,
fatty acids, ketone bodies, fatty acid composition
of breast milk, ketones and various disease states.
When I researched ketone bodies, I came across
the name of Dr. Richard Veech of the National
Institutes of Health. I contacted him to ask ques-
tions about all of this and he very kindly spoke with
me and emailed me articles he had written on the
subject. I have had numerous questions and ideas,
and he has continued to provide me with answers
and more papers to read. I am thinking not only
about people with neurodegenerative diseases
like my husband, but also the sick and premature
newborns that I take care of, and potential uses
for those at both ends of the spectrum of life and
everyone in between. I wonder about autism and
whether something very important is missing in
infant formulas and in the diets of women who are
breastfeeding. 23
Beta-hydroxybutyrate is the primary ketone
body that is the end product of fatty acid metabo-
lism and appears to protect neurons when glucose
is not available. 20 Dr. Veech can make an ester
form of beta-hydroxybutyrate in his lab from MCT
oil that can be taken orally and converted to energy
by neurons and other cells. Potentially, higher lev-
els of ketone bodies could be obtained by ingest-
ing beta-hydroxybutyrate directly. He has done
studies on animals, but needs to produce this in
quantity to be able to do human studies. He could
start testing this year, if only he had the funding.
He needs $15 million to build a plant to produce
his beta-hydroxybutyrate. That is a lot of money,
but not so much if you consider that it is $1.00 for
every person that is expected to have Alzheimer’s
disease by the year 2050.
We visited Cincinnati at the end of June and all
of my family and Steve’s family noticed a very sig-
nificant difference in how he interacted with them
socially compared to a year ago. Instead of looking
lost, he was involved and interested in what they
had to say. He recognized relatives (brothers-in-
law, nieces and nephews) by name immediately
that were unfamiliar to him a year ago. His facial
expression was more animated. He participated
actively in conversations, understood jokes im-
mediately and even came up with his own humor-
ous comments. He still had difficulty finding some
words, but he was talking in sentences and even
stringing sentences together. In the morning he
would come to the kitchen and ask me to walk the
“big hill” with him before breakfast to get some ex-
ercise. He is a very different person than he was a
year ago and perhaps even two or three years ago.
He has serious atrophy of his brain and will never
be “normal,” but for now we are very pleased with
where he is at and, should coconut oil stop or slow
down the progress of his disease, it will be worth
every drop that he takes.
My sister Lois told a lady she works with about
the coconut oil and Steve’s response to it. Her fa-
ther began to give this to her mother, who has Al-
zheimer’s and she has had a similar response, with
more alertness, conversation and sense of humor.
On July 9, 2008, Steve had blood samples
drawn at various times before and following break-
fast and dinner. He received 35 ml of coconut oil at
each of those meals. He did not receive any other
coconut oil or other coconut products during the
rest of that day. Normally, he receives more coco-
nut oil than that on the average day. Steve’s ketone
body levels began to increase after breakfast over
3 hours, but at relatively low levels, dropped again
before dinner and were steadily rising about 3
hours after dinner. We do not know when his levels
peaked because we did not draw any further levels
thereafter. Dr. Veech stated that it is surprising that
Steve would improve with these relatively low lev-
els of ketones. This study reaffirms his belief that
it is necessary to go forward with the production
and testing of his ketone body b-hydroxy butyrate
esters, since considerably higher levels of ketone
bodies, timed and controlled could be achieved,
and more ketones would be available for the neu-
rons to use, and therefore greater improvement
could be expected.
It is urgent that funding become available
to move forward for the sake of the millions
who currently suffer, and will in the future
suffer, from Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s
disease, Huntington’s chorea, multiple scle-
rosis, ALS, type I and type II diabetes, as
well as any number of other conditions that
involve a defect in transport of glucose into
neurons and other cells.
Until Dr. Veech’s beta-hydroxybutyrate is test-
ed and available for use, a simple dietary change to
coconut oil could make a difference for people who
believe they are at risk and for those who already
have one of these diseases.
To duplicate the dose of MCT taken in the
Ketasyn study, about 7 level teaspoons should be
taken at one time, once a day, which should circu-
late ketone bodies for about 24 hours. I do not know
if it is necessary to take this much at one time or
if the dosage could be spread out over the course
of the day. Studies obviously need to be done to
determine this. We actually give this amount to
Steve at least twice a day to make sure that there
are no periods without ketone bodies circulating.
Many days he receives at least 50% more than this.
The amounts we are taking would not be excessive
in areas of the world where coconut is a staple. If
a person can tolerate more, or can work up to tol-
erating more, it may be a good idea to do so. As an
alternative, one could take 4 teaspoons of MCT oil
once or twice a day, or more often as tolerated.
Some people may experience a sense of
“fullness” or even have diarrhea after taking this
much to start, but this problem can be reduced by
starting with one or two teaspoons and increasing
over a week or so to the full amount. We put it in
oatmeal, combine it with salad dressings, use it to
cook with, and put it on anything that one would
normally put butter on, such as potatoes, sweet po-
tatoes, rice, pasta or noodles. Coconut ice cream
can be purchased at Asian stores, contains coconut
oil and is the most pleasant way I can think of to
make ketone bodies. Likewise, coconut milk is a
combination of coconut oil and coconut water and
can be found in the Asian and condensed milk sec-
tions of many grocery stores. It is a pleasant substi-
tute for milk, and can be added instead of milk, for
example, to make scrambled eggs, French toast,
Clock #2 - Two weeks after starting coconut oil.
Clock #3 - Thirty-seven days after starting coconut oil.
Clock #1 - The day before starting coconut oil.
and mashed potatoes. You can figure out portion
sizes of various combinations of foods containing
coconut and coconut oil equivalent to at least 35
grams of fat from coconut oil.
If you are using any type of hydrogenated veg-
etable oil or any oil with transfat, do not use any
more and get rid of it! Extra virgin olive oil, but-
ter and other natural, non-hydrogenated oils are
okay to use along with the coconut oil. It is possible
to use coconut oil in place of all other oils, how-
ever, since it contains no omega-3 fatty acids, it is
very important to eat salmon twice a week or get
enough omega-3 fatty acid from other rich sources
such as fish oil capsules, flax meal, flax oil (not for
cooking) or walnuts.
It is inconceivable that a potential dietary pre-
vention and cure for Alzheimer’s disease, and other
neurodegenerative diseases, has been out there for
so many years, and yet has gone unnoticed. It is
very likely that these diseases are becoming more
prevalent due our current diet. The American diet
has changed drastically from what it was before the
1950’s, when our parents and grandparents used
lard and coconut oil to cook. Cardiovascular dis-
ease was rare at the beginning of the 20th century,
and has skyrocketed, along with other devastating
diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes type II, obe-
sity, since mass produced hydrogenated vegetable
oils containing trans fats were introduced into our
diets and replaced these other natural fats. Sadly,
the incidences of cardiovascular and other serious
diseases are becoming more and more common
among people in other areas of the world who have
changed over from their indigenous foods to the
“western” diet.
I plan to tell everyone I can and get this infor-
mation to persons in positions to investigate this
with the hope that Dr. Veech and other MCT oil
and ketone body researchers get the funding they
need. Feel free to make copies and pass this write-
up on.
If you have a loved one or a patient with
Alzheimer’s or one of these other degenerative
neurologic diseases, consider trying coconut oil.
Dr. Veech suggests that, if possible, a videotape of
the person before starting and at various points af-
ter starting the coconut oil would be very useful to
document change. He suggests including segments
of the persons face, speech and gait (walking).
He also advises to have ketone bodies
measured. What have you got to lose?
Dr. Mary Newport
10030 Orchard Way
Spring hill, FL 34608
Home: (352) 666-1025
Cell: (352) 428-0251
Preemiedoctor@aol.com
Coconut oil and MCT oil websites:
www.coconutoilresearch.com
www.nutiva.com • www.amazon.com
www.tropicaltraditions.com
www.oilsbynature.com
www.cheapvitamins.com
Palm kernel oil website:
www.oilsbynature.com
Coconut oil and coconut milk are also avail-
able at most health food stores and many
grocery stores.
References:
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2. “Ketoacids? Good Medicine?” George F. Cahill, Jr., Richard L. Veech, Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association,
Vol. 114, 2003.
3. “The therapaeutic implications of ketone bodies: the effects of ketone bodies in pathological conditions: ketosis, ketogenic diet, redox states, insulin
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Vol. 128, 1790-1801.
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December 1992.
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12. “Lipids in (human) milk and the first steps in their digestion,” M Hamosh, et. al., Pediatrics, 1985, Vol. 75, 146-150.
13. “Nutritional factors and serum lipid levels,” EH Ahrens, American Journal of Medicine, 1957, vol. 23, 928 (used hydrogenated coconut oil).
14. “Trans fatty acids and coronary artery disease,” NEJM, 1999, Vol. 340, 1994-1998.
15. “Effect of mixed fat formula feeding on serum cholesterol level in man,” SA Hashim, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1959, Vol. 7, 30-34.
16. “Modified-fat dietary management of the young male with coronary disease: a five-year report,” JL Bierenbaum, JAMA, 1967, Vol. 202, 1119-1123.
17. “Cholesterol, coconuts and diet in Polynesian atolls-a natural experiment; the Pukapuka and Toklau island studies,” IA Prior, American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, 1981, Vol. 34, 1552-1561.
18. “Changes in cerebral blood flow and carbohydrate metabolism during acute hyperketonemia,” S.G. Hasselbalch, et.al, Am J Physiol, 1996,
Vol. 270, E746-51.
19. “Effect of hyperketonemia and hyperlacticacidemia on symptoms, cognitive dysfunction, and counterregulatory hormone responses during hypogly-
cemia in normal humans,” T. Veneman, et. al., Diabetes 43:1311-7 (1994).
20. “D-b-Hydroxybutyrate protects neurons in models of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease,” Y Kashiwaya, et. al. including RL Veech, PNAS, May 9,
2000, Vol. 97 No. 10, 5440-5444.
21. “High carbohydrate diets and Alzheimer’s disease,” Samuel T. Henderson, Medical Hypotheses, 2004, Vol 62, 689-700 (Another article of interest).
22. “Effects of b-Hydroxybutyrate on cognition in memory-impaired adults,” MA Reger, ST Henderson, et. al., Neurobiology of Aging, 2004,
Vol. 25, 311-314.
23. “Breastfeeding, infant formula supplementation, and Autistic Disorder: the results of a parent survey,” ST Schultz, et. al., International Breastfeeding
Journal, 2006, Vol. 1 No. 16.
Other Important Resources
“Ketones: Metabolism’s Ugly Duckling,” TB VanItallie, TH Nufert, Nutrition Reviews, Vol 61, No 10, 327-341.
“Fuel Metabolism in Starvation,” GF Cahill, Jr., Annual Reviews in Nutrition, 2006, 26:1-22.
“Ketone Bodies as a Therapeutic for Alzheimer’s Disease,” ST Henderson, Journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics,
Vol 5, 470-480, July 2008.
WHAT IF THERE WAS A CURE FOR
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND NO ONE KNEW?
A Case Study by Dr. Mary Newport
July 22, 2008
There is a growing epidemic of obesity,
type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
and predictions that 15,000,000 people
in the United States alone will have Alzheim-
er’s Disease by the year 2050.
In 2001, Dr. Richard L. Veech of the NIH,
and others, published an article entitled, “Ke-
tone bodies, potential therapeutic uses.”1 In
2003, George F. Cahill, Jr. and Richard Veech
authored, “Ketoacids? Good Medicine?”2 and
in 2004, Richard Veech published a review of
the therapeutic implications of ketone bod-
ies.3 These articles are not found in journals
that the average physician would read, much
less the lay public. Unless you are research-
ing the topic, it is unlikely that you would
ever randomly come across this information.
My husband Steve, age 58, has had pro-
gressive dementia for at least five years. He
had an MRI in May 2008 showing a diffuse
involutional change of the frontal and pari-
etal lobes and moderate left-sided and severe
right-sided amygdala and hippocampal atro-
phy with no ischemic change, which would
support a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s
Disease. For non-medical people, this means
that he has shrunken areas of the brain.
Many days, often for several days in a row,
he was in a fog; couldn’t find a spoon or re-
member how to get water out of the refrig-
erator. Some days were not so bad; he almost
seemed like his former self, happy, with his
unique sense of humor, creative, full of ideas.
One day I would ask if a certain call came that
I was expecting and he would say, “No.” Two
days later he would remember the message
from so-and-so from a couple of days earlier
and what they said. Strange to have no short-
term memory and yet the information was
filed somewhere in his brain. My gut feeling
is that diet has something to do with the fluc-
tuation, but what. I knew that he was locked
up in there somewhere, if only there was a
key to open up the areas of his brain that he
didn’t have access to.
Steve has a BSBA in accounting, and did
billing, bookkeeping and accounting for my
neonatology practice from home, so that he
could stay with our girls. He loved computers
and was a fast typist. He could open comput-
ers up to repair them and fix practically any-
thing else without ever having instruction.
If he did not have a tool to do something he
would “invent” it and make a usable proto-
type. He loved to kayak and made an attach-
ment to keep his kayak moving in a straight
line. About five years ago he began to have
trouble organizing to do his accounting work.
He would procrastinate as much as possible.
He made mistakes with the payroll and I be-
gan to sit with him to help him get it right. I
thought it was just that our practice had got-
ten more complicated with more employees. He
knew that something was wrong and depression
set in. We took him to a neurologist about 4 years
ago, who did a Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE,)
and Steve scored a 23 out of 30, putting him into
the mild range of dementia. On this test, the lower
the score is, the worse the dementia. His MRI was
reported as normal at that time.
About three years ago, Steve started taking
Aricept and two years ago Namenda. We were
hopeful that, if we could slow his decline enough, a
treatment would come along that would turn things
around for him. He was changed over from Aricept to
Exelon in August 2007 after losing ten pounds
over several weeks. In the past 12 months there
was a noticeable change. He can no longer cook
for himself, remember to eat a good meal, use a
calculator or even perform the simplest addition,
however he still keeps busy all day working in the
yard or in his garage and he is still in good physical
condition. I now do all the cooking for a man who
used to cook for his family regularly. I give him the
medications because he can’t remember to take
them, much less take the right pills. Every night,
we hold each other before we go to sleep and I won-
der how many more times we will get to do this. It
has been a nightmare to watch his decline and feel
helpless to do anything but watch it happen. He is
fully aware of his dementia, and we talk about it fre-
quently. He is no longer depressed, probably with
the help of counseling, Lexipro and Wellbutrin, or
maybe worsening of his disease.
I subscribe to various alerts and check the
website www.clinicaltrials.gov periodically to look
for drug studies that he may qualify for. Two years
ago we tried to get him into a study for a promis-
ing anti-inflammatory drug, Flurizan, but he did
not qualify because he had a history of depression
within the previous two years. Wouldn’t you be de-
pressed if you knew you had Alzheimer’s? In fact,
depression may be a symptom or precursor of Al-
zheimer’s.
Until very recently, I didn’t see anything re-
garding the potential use of medium chain trig-
lycerides (MCT oil), or ketone bodies (also called
ketoacids,) the end product of their metabolism,
which may not only treat, but also prevent Alzheim-
er’s disease. Further, this is a potential treatment
for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease,
multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclero-
sis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), drug resistant
epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and diabetes type
II, where there is insulin resistance. Ketone bodies
may help the brain recover after a loss of oxygen in
newborns through adults, may help the heart re-
cover after an acute attack, and may shrink cancer-
ous tumors. Children with drug resistant epilepsy
sometimes respond to an extremely low carbohy-
drate ketogenic diet. MCT oil appears to be useful
as an aid in weight loss and body builders use it
already to improve their lean body mass (MCT oil
can be easily purchased on the internet.) Athletes
and soldiers could use MCT oil as a source of fuel
when the body runs out of carbohydrates, which
occurs rather quickly when food is not readily
available.
What do these entities have in common? Our
cells can use ketone bodies as an alternative fuel
when glucose is not available. Brain cells, specifi-
cally neurons, are very limited, more limited than
other cells, in what kinds of fuel they can use to
function and to stay alive. Normally, they require
glucose (sugar), but they can also use ketone bod-
ies. Humans do not normally have ketone bodies
circulating and available to the brain unless they
have been starving for a couple of days or longer,
or are consuming a ketogenic (very low carbohy-
drate) diet, such as Atkins. In Alzheimer’s disease,
the neurons in certain areas of the brain are un-
able to take in glucose4, 5 due to insulin resistance
and slowly die off, a process that appears to happen
one or more decades before the symptoms become
apparent. If these cells had access to ketone bod-
ies, they could potentially stay alive and continue
to function. It appears that persons with Parkin-
son’s disease,6 Huntington’s disease, 7 multiple
need to take 35 grams or just over two table-
spoons (about 35 ml or 7 level teaspoons) of
coconut oil. The following morning, around
9 A.M., I made oatmeal for breakfast and
stirred two tablespoons, plus more for “good
luck,” into his portion. I had some as well,
since I cannot expect him to eat something
that I won’t eat.
On the way to the 1:00 P.M. screening,
I tried to prepare Steve by asking him the
season, the month, the day of the week, re-
minding him that we were going to Tampa,
in Hillsborough county. He couldn’t remem-
ber the word “spring,” came up with April
instead of May for the month every time I
asked him and he couldn’t remember it was
Wednesday. During the hour-long drive, we
went through these facts at least 10 times,
but he still couldn’t remember. Shortly after
we arrived he was whisked away for the test,
about 4 ½ hours after consuming the coconut
oil. When he returned, he was very unhappy
about his performance. Laura, the research
coordinator, returned shortly thereafter and
began to take his vital signs and blood pres-
sure, and, suspecting that we were continu-
ing with the screening process, I asked her
if she could share his score with us. She
said, “Didn’t he tell you? He scored an 18!”
more than he needed to qualify for the vac-
cine study. He remembered it was spring, it
was May, it was Wednesday, that he was in
Tampa, in Hillsborough county and that we
were at the Byrd Institute, all points that he
missed on the previous attempt at USF. As a
result of the screening, we learned that he is
positive for APOE4, but do not know at this
time if he has one or two copies.
According to the Ketasyn studies, Steve
should not have improved, but rather he
should have stayed about the same. Since then
he has retested for the Eli Lilly study drug,
now available closer to home and scored an
MMSE of 17 - he even remembered the date
of July 2, 2008 this time. We have decided, af-
ter looking at the potential side effects of the
vaccine for APOE4+ people, to go with the Eli
Lilly drug.
At the time of this writing it has been
60 days since he started taking coconut oil
(May 21, 2008.) He walks into the kitchen
every morning alert and happy, talkative,
making jokes. His gait is still a little weird.
His tremor is no longer very noticeable. He is
able to concentrate on things that he wants to
do around the house and in the yard and stay
on task, whereas before coconut oil he was
easily distractible and rarely accomplished
anything unless I supervised him directly, a
source of some contention between us!
After about two weeks, and again at 37
days, after starting the coconut oil, I asked
him to draw a clock (see Clocks #2 and #3.)
There is an obvious marked improvement. I
promise that I did not help him. He tells me
that he could not even picture a clock at the
St. Pete screening, but with the last two at-
tempts, he was very concerned that the 6 was
opposite the 12 and the 9 opposite the 3 on
the face of the clock. He drew “spokes” to
and ALS9 have a similar defect in utilizing glucose
but in different areas of the brain or spinal cord.
MCT oil is digested differently by the body
than other fats. Instead of storing all MCTs as fat,
the liver converts them directly to ketone bodies,
which are then available for use as energy. Oral
and intravenous administration of MCT oil produc-
es hyperketonemia, 10 or circulating ketone bodies,
which are then available to the brain for energy, in
the absence of glucose19 and even in the presence
of glucose.22 In addition, hyperketonemia results in
a substantial (39%) increase in cerebral blood flow,
18 and appears to reduce cognitive dysfunction as-
sociated with systemic hypoglycemia in normal
humans. 19
About 2 months ago, we took Steve to the
Johnny B. Byrd, Jr. Alzheimer’s Institute at Uni-
versity of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida
for an annual evaluation and screening for a vac-
cine study (Elan.) He was fasting for blood work
and had an MMSE of 12, much too low to qualify
for the vaccine study – a minimum score of 16 was
required. We were very disappointed, but were ad-
vised that we could come back another time to try
again, since he met all of the other criteria.
We made an appointment in mid-May 2008 in
St. Petersburg, Florida to screen Steve for an Eli
Lilly gamma-secretase inhibitor and made another
appointment for Steve to be screened for entry
into the Elan study at USF the following day. The
evening before the first screening in St. Pete, I re-
searched the two drugs to help us decide which
drug to choose, should he qualify for both studies.
I came across another drug, Ketasyn, or AC-1202,
that was also recruiting healthy older people to
test the tolerability of three different formulations.
Investigating further, I learned that this treatment
brought about significant improvement over a 90-
day period in about half of the subjects who had a
certain genetic profile (APOE2 or APOE3.) The
APOE4 group remained about the same, whereas
the controls (people taking the placebo) contin-
ued to show decline. The results were even more
impressive for people who were already taking
certain Alzheimer’s medications. In a pilot study,
some people improved on memory testing with the
very first dose. Upon doing an internet search for
Ketasyn, I found a January 2008 patent application
(see www.freepatentsonline.com ,)10 a continuation
of a 2000 application, 75 pages long, with a well-
written and thorough description of the science of
Alzheimer’s disease and description of the “inven-
tion,” including these study results and numerous
potential formulations in combination with other
substances that may enhance its effect.
I learned that the promising “ingredient” in
Ketasyn is simply MCT oil, and that a dose of 20
grams (about 20 ml or 4 teaspoons) was used to
produce these results. The MCT oil that these re-
searchers used was obtained from Stepan Compa-
ny and consists of primarily 6 and 8 carbon chains,
however they state that MCT of any combination of
medium chains (6 to 12 carbon chains are medium
chain) would also be effective. Just once in this ap-
plication, the author mentions that MCT oil is de-
rived from coconut or palm oil (this is incorrect,
the author should have stated palm kernel oil.)
I didn’t know at that point that I could easily
purchase MCT oil online, so I researched coconut
oil and found out that coconut oil is about 60% me-
dium chain fatty acids (MCFA), contains no cho-
lesterol and also contains omega-6 fatty acids and
some other short and long chain fatty acids of up
to 18 carbon chains. 11 Coconut oil can be found in
many health food stores and even some grocery
stores. Wal-Mart sells a non-hydrogenated (no
transfat) brand of coconut oil in a one-liter size
(almost 32 ounce containers) for about $7 in our
area of Florida. It can be purchased in quantities
as small as a pint and up to five gallons online. It is
important to use coconut oil that is non-hydroge-
nated and contains no transfat. There is a widely
held misconception that coconut oil is the “artery
clogging oil,” a term coined in the mid-1900’s by
the president of Proctor and Gamble, the manufac-
turer of Crisco and other hydrogenated vegetable
oils. The early studies in animals used hydrogenat-
ed coconut oil, which we now know produces the
notorious trans-fats, and the essential fatty acids
were excluded from the diet. 13
The largest producer of coconut oil is the Phil-
ippines, where coconut and its oil are food staples,
and it is also produced in India, Thailand and other
parts of Southeast Asia, the Caribbean islands and
even in south Florida. The Philippines has one of
the lowest incidences of cardiovascular disease in
the world. Studies have shown that total cholester-
ol to HDL ratio improves with non-hydrogenated
coconut oil.14, 15, 16, 17 The people in this part of the
world also eat fish regularly, providing them with
omega-3 fatty acids, which probably contributes as
well to the lack of cardiovascular disease. My nurse
friends from the Philippines tell me that many of
their relatives back home cook everything in coco-
nut oil and have coconut in one form or another at
nearly every meal.
I have also learned that after coconut and palm
kernel oil, the food that medium chain triglycerides
are most concentrated in is human breast milk. 12 It
is also found in smaller concentrations in goat and
cow’s milk, as well as the butters from these milks.
In fact, we used to add MCT oil 20-25 years ago to
premature formulas to add calories, and MCT, co-
conut and palm oils are currently added to prema-
ture and full term infant formulas, along with ARA
and DHA to mimic breast milk.
Back to Steve, it was too late to find coconut
oil before the first screening. On the way, I remind-
ed him repeatedly that we were in St. Petersburg,
in Pinellas County. On the MMSE, he remembered
the city but not the county, and he couldn’t remem-
ber the season, the month or day of the week,
much less the date, even though he had to initial
and date numerous pages of consent forms be-
fore the MMSE. He had to be reminded on every
single page where to initial and what the date was
and even how to write out the date. He scored a
14, too low for entry into the study. Dr. Margarita
Nunez spent considerable time with us and asked
Steve to draw a clock (see clock #1), which she
said was a specific test for Alzheimer’s. She took
me aside and told me that his “clock” indicated he
was leaning more towards severe than moderate
AD, a devastating, but not surprising revelation to
me, considering that I am his wife of 36 years and
now his caretaker.
Thinking, what have we got to lose, we stopped
at a health food store on the way home and picked
up a quart of 100% “virgin” coconut oil. I calculated
that in order to provide 20 gm of MCT, he would
help them line up. I did not ask him to try to
put in a time, the next part of that test.
Steve has not been able to type for at least
two years, but he feels that he can picture
the position of the letters on the keyboard.
At this point he is afraid to sit down and try
to type, worried that he will be discouraged
if it doesn’t come back right away. We are
considering trying occupational therapy to
see if he can relearn some of the skills he has
lost. I cannot explain why he has improved,
except that perhaps the 10 and 12 carbon
chains are important, or the APOE4 people in the
Ketasyn studies were not taking omega-3 fatty ac-
ids. We eat salmon at least twice a week and take
fish oil supplements twice a day and have for at
least the past two years.
I have been researching on the internet ev-
erything I can find about coconut oil, MCT oil,
fatty acids, ketone bodies, fatty acid composition
of breast milk, ketones and various disease states.
When I researched ketone bodies, I came across
the name of Dr. Richard Veech of the National
Institutes of Health. I contacted him to ask ques-
tions about all of this and he very kindly spoke with
me and emailed me articles he had written on the
subject. I have had numerous questions and ideas,
and he has continued to provide me with answers
and more papers to read. I am thinking not only
about people with neurodegenerative diseases
like my husband, but also the sick and premature
newborns that I take care of, and potential uses
for those at both ends of the spectrum of life and
everyone in between. I wonder about autism and
whether something very important is missing in
infant formulas and in the diets of women who are
breastfeeding. 23
Beta-hydroxybutyrate is the primary ketone
body that is the end product of fatty acid metabo-
lism and appears to protect neurons when glucose
is not available. 20 Dr. Veech can make an ester
form of beta-hydroxybutyrate in his lab from MCT
oil that can be taken orally and converted to energy
by neurons and other cells. Potentially, higher lev-
els of ketone bodies could be obtained by ingest-
ing beta-hydroxybutyrate directly. He has done
studies on animals, but needs to produce this in
quantity to be able to do human studies. He could
start testing this year, if only he had the funding.
He needs $15 million to build a plant to produce
his beta-hydroxybutyrate. That is a lot of money,
but not so much if you consider that it is $1.00 for
every person that is expected to have Alzheimer’s
disease by the year 2050.
We visited Cincinnati at the end of June and all
of my family and Steve’s family noticed a very sig-
nificant difference in how he interacted with them
socially compared to a year ago. Instead of looking
lost, he was involved and interested in what they
had to say. He recognized relatives (brothers-in-
law, nieces and nephews) by name immediately
that were unfamiliar to him a year ago. His facial
expression was more animated. He participated
actively in conversations, understood jokes im-
mediately and even came up with his own humor-
ous comments. He still had difficulty finding some
words, but he was talking in sentences and even
stringing sentences together. In the morning he
would come to the kitchen and ask me to walk the
“big hill” with him before breakfast to get some ex-
ercise. He is a very different person than he was a
year ago and perhaps even two or three years ago.
He has serious atrophy of his brain and will never
be “normal,” but for now we are very pleased with
where he is at and, should coconut oil stop or slow
down the progress of his disease, it will be worth
every drop that he takes.
My sister Lois told a lady she works with about
the coconut oil and Steve’s response to it. Her fa-
ther began to give this to her mother, who has Al-
zheimer’s and she has had a similar response, with
more alertness, conversation and sense of humor.
On July 9, 2008, Steve had blood samples
drawn at various times before and following break-
fast and dinner. He received 35 ml of coconut oil at
each of those meals. He did not receive any other
coconut oil or other coconut products during the
rest of that day. Normally, he receives more coco-
nut oil than that on the average day. Steve’s ketone
body levels began to increase after breakfast over
3 hours, but at relatively low levels, dropped again
before dinner and were steadily rising about 3
hours after dinner. We do not know when his levels
peaked because we did not draw any further levels
thereafter. Dr. Veech stated that it is surprising that
Steve would improve with these relatively low lev-
els of ketones. This study reaffirms his belief that
it is necessary to go forward with the production
and testing of his ketone body b-hydroxy butyrate
esters, since considerably higher levels of ketone
bodies, timed and controlled could be achieved,
and more ketones would be available for the neu-
rons to use, and therefore greater improvement
could be expected.
It is urgent that funding become available
to move forward for the sake of the millions
who currently suffer, and will in the future
suffer, from Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s
disease, Huntington’s chorea, multiple scle-
rosis, ALS, type I and type II diabetes, as
well as any number of other conditions that
involve a defect in transport of glucose into
neurons and other cells.
Until Dr. Veech’s beta-hydroxybutyrate is test-
ed and available for use, a simple dietary change to
coconut oil could make a difference for people who
believe they are at risk and for those who already
have one of these diseases.
To duplicate the dose of MCT taken in the
Ketasyn study, about 7 level teaspoons should be
taken at one time, once a day, which should circu-
late ketone bodies for about 24 hours. I do not know
if it is necessary to take this much at one time or
if the dosage could be spread out over the course
of the day. Studies obviously need to be done to
determine this. We actually give this amount to
Steve at least twice a day to make sure that there
are no periods without ketone bodies circulating.
Many days he receives at least 50% more than this.
The amounts we are taking would not be excessive
in areas of the world where coconut is a staple. If
a person can tolerate more, or can work up to tol-
erating more, it may be a good idea to do so. As an
alternative, one could take 4 teaspoons of MCT oil
once or twice a day, or more often as tolerated.
Some people may experience a sense of
“fullness” or even have diarrhea after taking this
much to start, but this problem can be reduced by
starting with one or two teaspoons and increasing
over a week or so to the full amount. We put it in
oatmeal, combine it with salad dressings, use it to
cook with, and put it on anything that one would
normally put butter on, such as potatoes, sweet po-
tatoes, rice, pasta or noodles. Coconut ice cream
can be purchased at Asian stores, contains coconut
oil and is the most pleasant way I can think of to
make ketone bodies. Likewise, coconut milk is a
combination of coconut oil and coconut water and
can be found in the Asian and condensed milk sec-
tions of many grocery stores. It is a pleasant substi-
tute for milk, and can be added instead of milk, for
example, to make scrambled eggs, French toast,
Clock #2 - Two weeks after starting coconut oil.
Clock #3 - Thirty-seven days after starting coconut oil.
Clock #1 - The day before starting coconut oil.
and mashed potatoes. You can figure out portion
sizes of various combinations of foods containing
coconut and coconut oil equivalent to at least 35
grams of fat from coconut oil.
If you are using any type of hydrogenated veg-
etable oil or any oil with transfat, do not use any
more and get rid of it! Extra virgin olive oil, but-
ter and other natural, non-hydrogenated oils are
okay to use along with the coconut oil. It is possible
to use coconut oil in place of all other oils, how-
ever, since it contains no omega-3 fatty acids, it is
very important to eat salmon twice a week or get
enough omega-3 fatty acid from other rich sources
such as fish oil capsules, flax meal, flax oil (not for
cooking) or walnuts.
It is inconceivable that a potential dietary pre-
vention and cure for Alzheimer’s disease, and other
neurodegenerative diseases, has been out there for
so many years, and yet has gone unnoticed. It is
very likely that these diseases are becoming more
prevalent due our current diet. The American diet
has changed drastically from what it was before the
1950’s, when our parents and grandparents used
lard and coconut oil to cook. Cardiovascular dis-
ease was rare at the beginning of the 20th century,
and has skyrocketed, along with other devastating
diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes type II, obe-
sity, since mass produced hydrogenated vegetable
oils containing trans fats were introduced into our
diets and replaced these other natural fats. Sadly,
the incidences of cardiovascular and other serious
diseases are becoming more and more common
among people in other areas of the world who have
changed over from their indigenous foods to the
“western” diet.
I plan to tell everyone I can and get this infor-
mation to persons in positions to investigate this
with the hope that Dr. Veech and other MCT oil
and ketone body researchers get the funding they
need. Feel free to make copies and pass this write-
up on.
If you have a loved one or a patient with
Alzheimer’s or one of these other degenerative
neurologic diseases, consider trying coconut oil.
Dr. Veech suggests that, if possible, a videotape of
the person before starting and at various points af-
ter starting the coconut oil would be very useful to
document change. He suggests including segments
of the persons face, speech and gait (walking).
He also advises to have ketone bodies
measured. What have you got to lose?
Dr. Mary Newport
10030 Orchard Way
Spring hill, FL 34608
Home: (352) 666-1025
Cell: (352) 428-0251
Preemiedoctor@aol.com
Coconut oil and MCT oil websites:
www.coconutoilresearch.com
www.nutiva.com • www.amazon.com
www.tropicaltraditions.com
www.oilsbynature.com
www.cheapvitamins.com
Palm kernel oil website:
www.oilsbynature.com
Coconut oil and coconut milk are also avail-
able at most health food stores and many
grocery stores.
References:
1. “Ketone bodies, potential therapeutic uses,” RL Veech, B Chance, Y Kashiwaya, HA Lardy, GC Cahill, Jr., IUBMB Life, 2001, Vol. 51 No.4, 241-247
2. “Ketoacids? Good Medicine?” George F. Cahill, Jr., Richard L. Veech, Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association,
Vol. 114, 2003.
3. “The therapaeutic implications of ketone bodies: the effects of ketone bodies in pathological conditions: ketosis, ketogenic diet, redox states, insulin
resistance, and mitochondrial metabolism,” Richard L. Veech, Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids, 70 (2004) 309-319.
4. “Diminished glucose transport and phosphorylation in Alzheimer’s Disease determined by dynamic FDG-PET,” M Piert, et.al., The Journal of Nuclear
Medicine, Vol.37 No.2, February 1996, 201-208.
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10. “Combinations of medium chain triglycerides and therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases
resulting from reduced neuronal metabolism,” United States Patent 20080009467, Inventor Samuel T. Henderson, Accera, Inc., Broomfield,
Colorado (Ketasyn).
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Other Important Resources
“Ketones: Metabolism’s Ugly Duckling,” TB VanItallie, TH Nufert, Nutrition Reviews, Vol 61, No 10, 327-341.
“Fuel Metabolism in Starvation,” GF Cahill, Jr., Annual Reviews in Nutrition, 2006, 26:1-22.
“Ketone Bodies as a Therapeutic for Alzheimer’s Disease,” ST Henderson, Journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics,
Vol 5, 470-480, July 2008.