Alzheimer's

danidanibobani

I've been keto for the last month and feel pretty good. I've pretty easily lost some weight without really having to track my intake, which is pretty big for me, as I would like to be free from the years of yoyoing and tracking everything that goes in my mouth. I have an aunt who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's, which led me to look online for studies regarding insulin/insulin resistance and Alzheimer's, which have a connection, which made me feel good about keto. Then I researched dietary fat and cholesterol and Alzheimer's. What I found seemed concerning but I also know I am not a science person. Does anyone out there have information for me that could help me sort it out? I'm definitely looking for some info maybe broken down in non scientist way.

danidanibobani

I'm confused because I find information saying saturated fat causes it and low fat diets cause it. Not cause, but are connected.

Kitnthecat

Sorry to hear about your aunt ! Pick up the book "Grain Brain" which will tell you about the link between eating carbs and what it does to the health of your brain. Low carb appears to be a very good way to prevent the occurrence of diseases like Alzheimer's.

I can't help you with the dietary fat aspect but others here will likely be able to.

danidanibobani

Thanks. I am admittedly a touch of a hypochondriac, so I tend to over worry on things. And I'm not a scientist, so wading through things like this is confusing.

GaleHawkins

Goggle coconut oil and Alzheimer's for a starting place. There is a Dr. that has helped her husband get better.

It is low tech.

freshstart

I agree with Klnthecat to use Grain Brain as a resource. Also agree with GaleHawkins regarding coconut oil.

pedidiva

watch Tim Noakes on youtube. They are calling Alzheimer's T3DM

danidanibobani

I can totally get in line with the low carb and sugar stuff. I'm finding a hard time believing the coconut oil is helpful. It feels too anecdotal, which I don't discard right away, I 'd just like a little more hard science that I can understand. Maybe it doesn't even exist right now. I really want to do everything I can to prevent Alzheimer's. But I will tell my mom about the coconut oil. Maybe she can pass it on to my aunt/her family and see if it makes a difference.

Dragonwolf

dashriver wrote: »

I can totally get in line with the low carb and sugar stuff. I'm finding a hard time believing the coconut oil is helpful. It feels too anecdotal, which I don't discard right away, I 'd just like a little more hard science that I can understand. Maybe it doesn't even exist right now. I really want to do everything I can to prevent Alzheimer's. But I will tell my mom about the coconut oil. Maybe she can pass it on to my aunt/her family and see if it makes a difference.

Actually, there's quite a bit of studying going on and the mechanisms are pretty sound, though there might not be specific tests for coconut oil and Alzheimer's. There is a fair bit of evidence that ketones have a neuroprotective and neurosupportive effect and have been shown to improve all sorts of neurological issues. It's also well-known that coconut oil gets converted pretty readily to ketones (coconut oil is primarily medium chain triglycerides, where are a close third (alcohol is first, glucose is second) on the "burn priority list" in the body). The logic, then, is that the ketones generated from the MCTs provide benefit to neurological disorders, which is useful until specific studies are conducted.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201410/bold-new-experimental-treatment-alzheimers-dementia

Also, considering the percentage of the brain that is made of cholesterol and saturated fat, I doubt that dietary intake of those in humans is what's causing or contributing to the disease. They've been trying to link fat intake to sugar/insulin disorders for quite some time and the only ones that find positive correlations are the ones using a SAD diet as one of the parts, which isn't just high in fats, but high in PUFAs and refined carbohydrates. Anything comparing SAD with anything else, then saying it's one part of the SAD that's the culprit needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt or dismissed as invalid altogether. The SAD is pretty much the bottom of the barrel. It doesn't really matter what dietary route you take from there, because damn near everything else is going to be an improvement.

danidanibobani

Thanks for those. I passed them on to my mom for my aunt and they were an interesting read. It will be interesting to see if the coconut gets more studies behind it, maybe out of the states. I am planning on staying keto, if anything it is just so much easier for me. And I have been able to lose the weight that I have struggled to lose since my youngest was born. I believe it was blood sugar/insulin resistance because I had been told I was borderline hypoglycemic (my fasting levels were one point above an official diagnosis). Any how, I tend to not always feel super confident in my decisions and when I find conflicting info I do melt a little.

Dragonwolf

Yeah, unfortunately, there's a lot of conflicting stuff out there, and a lot of the studies are complete garbage. For whatever reason, nutrition/health research seems to be the field that everyone thinks is sufficient to use only the most basic and often horribly-constructed studies and seem to think that crappy surveys are anywhere near as good as double blind crossover trials. Part of it's the nature of health/nutrition, but part of it is just bad science, too. Even worse is the fact that media outlets will take a soundbite and run with it, even when that soundbite directly contradicts the conclusions of the study.

Your best bet is to learn how to distinguish the good studies from the bad. Take abstracts with a grain of salt unless you can get the full study. Look at the methods and make sure the writer's conclusion is consistent with the intervention (ie - if the subjects quit smoking, went on a particular diet, started an exercise regime, and joined a support group, and the writers conclude the diet was responsible for the subjects' health improvement, it's a bad conclusion and bad study). Look at the details of the intervention and see if they're valid (ie - Oscar Meyer hot dogs are not the same as grass fed steak, trans fats are not the same as saturated fats).

GaleHawkins

dashriver wrote: »

I can totally get in line with the low carb and sugar stuff. I'm finding a hard time believing the coconut oil is helpful. It feels too anecdotal, which I don't discard right away, I 'd just like a little more hard science that I can understand. Maybe it doesn't even exist right now. I really want to do everything I can to prevent Alzheimer's. But I will tell my mom about the coconut oil. Maybe she can pass it on to my aunt/her family and see if it makes a difference.

dashriver it is ketones for brain fuel that the body can make from the medium chain triglycerides in the coconut oil oil that helps a brain that can no longer use glucose very well for energy.

Without ketones the damaged brain seems to continue wasting away. Read about how to keep from starving her brain that is now not being fed by glucose. Here is some links about glucose not feeding the Alzheimer's damaged brain.

https://google.com/search?newwindow=1&q=alzheimer%27s+brain+not+using+glucose&oq=alzheimer%27s+brain+not+using+glucose&gs_l=serp.3...2373376.2396188.0.2397450.91.47.1.7.7.15.386.3952.39j5j0j1.45.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..60.31.2185.0.N_fzm4fmBec

GaleHawkins

@dashriver below is about Dr. Mary Newport. Her husband has Alzheimer's.

https://bulletproofexec.com/podcast-13-how-to-take-care-of-your-brain-with-coconut-oil-ketones/

danidanibobani

Thanks! I will check it all out!

blwasson73

The author of Grain Brain has a new book out called Brainmaker that talks about the role of the gut microbiome related to Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders. It's really fascinating.