New Hope For Dementia

It's expected that about half of the North American population will develop dementia and although regular vigorous mental and physical activity can delay and possibly halt onset, until recently there was little hope for those currently suffering. Most adults fear losing their mental faculties far more than they fear death, so any hope is exciting; particularly if it's safe, inexpensive and non pharmaceutical.

The onset of dementia including Alzheimer's may be influenced by a number of factors; the effects of anesthetics, nutrient deficiencies, a lifetime of struggles with anxiety and/or depression and as is now known, an inability for brain cells to utilize glucose effectively. Essentially, diabetes of the brain.

Brain cells are heavy users of blood glucose, but those with dementia seem often unable to process this abundant blood sugar. Happily, there is an alternate source of energy for these critical cells-Ketones.

Ketones are typically produced in the liver in response to fasting, to provide an effective energy source from body fat. In fact, putting epilepsy patients on a fast for a period of time is a medical option for epilepsy going back many decades. It is now known that therapeutic blood level of Ketones can quickly be obtained through the use of dietary medium chain fatty acids (MCTs) of which coconut oil is one of the best sources; being over 60% MCTs.

Coconut oil is unique in safety profile, health benefits, and its property of not causing weight gain since the MCTs are used so differently in human metabolism. If my parents were still alive and suffering from dementia, I'd first have their serum ferritin levels checked to ensure their iron levels weren't an issue, then start slowly with 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil/day, titrating up daily as tolerated to 6-8 teaspoons/day spread out over 3-4 doses. I'm very conservative, so I always prefer to add anything new, step by step.

If not seeing a significant benefit within a couple of weeks, I would consider adding a nutritional supplement to provide the non Ketone nutritional components in highly bio-available forms. Many years ago, a pilot program was done in a nursing home where this nutrient regime was administered for two months. The administrator's report was that anxiety and agitation levels and medication levels were reduced for many of their clients.

There are no magic bullets, and nothing will work 100% of the time for 100% of the people, but this seems a no-brainer. A high degree of safety, known health benefits and some reasonable degree of hope for improvement.