So in class yesterday someone asked about whether or not coconut oil could help if you had a neurodegenerative disease and i found a couple of links to places that say it actually helps. They all pretty much say that the coconut oil helps to boost brain activity because it is a rich source in medium chain triglycerides. They are then converted to ketones which when released from the liver go straight to the brain and acts as a fuel for the brain. Some sites even say that the ketones have an effect on other cells in the body and could help to lessen the affects of other diseases like diabetes.
http://www.nccdp.org/resources-coconut-oil.htm
http://www.naturalnews.com/030971_coconut_brain_function.html
This particular site has videos of a doctor explaining how coconut oil helps and i believe it has a testimonial from someone as well.
http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/ayurveda-health-wellbeing/1065097-coconut-oil-neurodegenerative-diseases.html
I think this is really interesting because like we've talked about in class many times, people are always looking for alternative ways to "cure" themselves and this seems to maybe have a positive affect. Thoughts?
Thanks for information, i think this area is really interesting and possible a placebo, but i believe that would be a good research area, and if it does help with the symptoms and possible cure the disease, it will be a huge discovery
ReplyDeleteThe problem with coconut oil is that the type of fat it is mostly composed of is saturated fat. This can increase your cholesterol, so I think in this case until there is further information, the (possible) benefits have to be weighed against the cost.
ReplyDeleteThere is more information about this at:
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA316479
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400611/Confused-About-Coconut-Oil.html
This is really interesting. When the topic came up in class, I was like there is no way it can help. But now the article "Coconut Boosts Brain Function" got me thinking. First off I want to say it was interesting how the author described neurodegenerative diseases as "this is Diabetes in the brain." In my opinion it was an interesting way of describing it. Then the article goes into details of what parts of the coconut oil help fight the effects of diseases such as Alzheimer's. I'm not sure how much I believe what is stated. I wonder if any scientific studies have been done. I can see people desperate for results using coconut oil and feeling like their getting better...the placebo effect. The human mind is truly amazing and sometimes the patient may get better. The coconut oil doesn't have to be the reason behind the improvement though. There is so much wiggle room in this article, and what I read about coconut oil, I'm not sure if I actually believe it at this point.
ReplyDeleteSo as I read the "Coconut Boosts Brain Function" article, I thought it sounded a bit odd to say that neurodegenerative diseases were like diabetes for the brain. The article includes Parkinson's as one of these brain "diabetic" diseases, however nowhere on the Parkinson's disease official website does it say that there are issues associated with fat/fuel for the brain. Rather, there are issues related to dopamine, a neurotransmitter. Therefore I am a bit skeptical with regards to how coconut oil, which is high in fat content and not a neurotransmitter could decrease the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to see scientific studies performed, because I do not quite believe its effects yet.
I am no biologist, but the idea that dietary fat could be related to neurological diseases makes sense to me. The myelin sheat is over 70% fat. Lipids are an important part of the membranes of neurons and play a key role in the synaptic signaling process. Steroid hormones are also lipid-based, although I don’t know if any steroid hormones play a role in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or Parkinson’s disease (PD).
ReplyDeleteThe doctor in the video pulls most of her information from a patent for medium chain triglycerides in the treatment of AD. It’s here: http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT6835750&id=OwcRAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Medium+chain+triglycerides+parkinson&printsec=abstract#v=onepage&q&f=false. I didn’t see a whole lot of other research other than this. I tried to find studies on coconut oil or medium chain triglycerides and these neurodegenerative diseases, but google scholar didn’t turn up much of anything. Epidemiological evidence seems to be pretty mixed in terms of the role of dietary fat in PD – although I think the touted benefits of coconut oil are related to its medium chain fatty acids, and most studies lump all saturated fat together. The one form of fat that does seem to have evidence in terms of a protective effect is omega-3 fats. No surprise there. I did find a paper that reviews research about the ketogenic diet and various diseases. (The ketogenic diet is a very high fat diet that is often used for treatment of epileptic children and sometimes used with diabetes. It basically forces the body to get energy from fat rather than directly from glucose. Medium chain triglycerides are often a main source of fat in these diets.) The research mentioned in the paper suggests a possible benefit of this type of diet for PD or Alzheimer’s, but the evidence is certainly not conclusive. The PD study had only 7 people, and the Alzheimer’s studies were restricted to mice.
The lack of extensive research doesn’t mean that coconut oil isn’t beneficial for these diseases. I certainly did not do an exhaustive literature search, and there might not be much in the way of funding for this type of research. There is certainly a lot of anecdotal evidence around the internet about the benefits.
If there is a real benefit, one possible mechanism is through inflammation. There is evidence to suggest that coconut oil is anti-inflammatory, as well as research that shows an association between inflammation and neurodegeneration.
In terms of the role of coconut oil in cholesterol, there are studies that suggest that coconut oil raises cholesterol, but the effect is concentrated in HDL, which is considered protective for heart disease.
References:
Assisi, Alessandro (2006). Fish oil and mental health: the role of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in cognitive development and neurological disorders. International clinical psychopharmacology 21(6), 319.
Freeman, J.M., Kossoff, E.H., and Hartman, A.L. (2007). The Ketogenic Diet: One Decade Later. PEDIATRICS 119, 535–543.
Henderson, Samuel. Use of Medium Chain triglycerides for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease and other diseases resulting from reduced neuronal metabolism II. US Patent 6835750, filed May 20, 2002, and issued Dec 28, 2004.
Lonneke ML de Lau, Monique MB Breteler. (2006). Epidemiology of Parkinson's disease, The Lancet Neurology 5(6), 525-535.
Mensink RP, Zock PL, Kester AD, Katan MB. (2003). Effects of dietary fatty acids and carbohydrates on the ratio of serum total to HDL cholesterol and on serum lipids and apolipoproteins: a meta-analysis of 60 controlled trials. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 77(5), 1146–55.