Coconut and MCT oil for Parkinson's?

[Eryl]

This interview is specifically about one Alzheimer's patient but does mention that the treatment and a ketogenic diet could help other similarconditions: youtu.be/r3-5GQfeJ68?si=S40...(Not working as expected?)

[Mezmerric]

It’s worth looking at the work of prof Stephen Cunnane and prof kieran clarke. Their work validates that that the brain starts to struggle to use its main fuel type (glucose) as we age and particularly in the case of Alzeimers but the brain can still use ketones instead to provide energy. MCTs are a source of ketones. Though Ketone Esters even more so.

[Eryl in reply to Mezmerric]

The Randle cycle (check out Prof Bart Kay on youtube) explains how high blood sugar blocks the use of ketones for energy so a ketogenic diet is essential for ketone esters to be effective. youtu.be/5sYClVQyMLM?si=9jl...(Not working as expected?)

[JayPwP in reply to Eryl]

One of the comments on Bart Kay's presentation on Nutrition with Judy

Comment

[Eryl in reply to JayPwP]

Tbis treatment only works temporarily as eventually it leads to more insulin resistance and a worse situation.

[JayPwP in reply to Eryl]

The question is why does the treatment work in spite of the Randle cycle being active? If Randle cycle locks entry of glucose into the cells, does insulin have the capacity to override the Randle cycle?

[Eryl in reply to JayPwP]

The Randle cycle doesn't work instantaneously or as a switch where it is either on or off, there is a narrow aindow where the cell will use both glucose and ketones, so more insulin can work until the Randle cycle has a time to react.

[pdpatient in reply to Eryl]

Agreed. It worsened my triglycerides and blood sugar numbers. I probably get an hour of relief at best

[Mezmerric in reply to Eryl]

in a heathy subject the glucose will be prioritised over ketones as a fuel for the brain… but in PD and Alzeimers glucose uptake is impaired and in these cases the research clearly shows that the brain will then use ketones and lactate as a fuel if they are available - even when carbs are consumed. So the fuels are not mutually exclusive and they also reach neurons through different pathways.

Your video links to a youtube video of William Curtis. Mr Curtis takes ketone esters having discussed them with the highly respected Prof Ricard Veech. Veech along with kieren clarke developed the first Ketone ester because they saw the benefits of endogenous ketones and saw life style and health downsides in maintaining ketosis through either fasting or a non carb diet. Ergo, these scientists knew that the brain would utilise ketones regardless of carbs.

[BeedieBird]

I tried MCT oil in my tea every morning for a while. Blood tests came back my cholesterol spiked dramatically. MCT/Coconut oil I can not use in my diet, for genetic reasons it seems. Best to be careful and check this.

[Eryl in reply to BeedieBird]

Why are you worried about spiking your cholesterol? Statistics show that people with higher cholesterol live longer.

[BeedieBird in reply to Eryl]

Is this information regardless of age? Is that actually a fact backed by science? I'd like to know more.

[Eryl in reply to BeedieBird]

youtube.com/live/oYeKjLchl6...

[BeedieBird in reply to Eryl]

Thank you for posting the video. He's not a Dr which he admits. And he never posted the scientific study links he said he would back in Dec. '23. I will check on these studies myself so that I can interpret. I won't use coconut oil for now, instead, I pour heavy amounts of good quality Olive Oil (evoo) to all my food including my tea/coffee. I'm pretty sure there is more evidence as to the benefits of Olive Oil on health/cognitive health than the limited studies of using coconut oil.

[Eryl in reply to BeedieBird]

No, he's not a doctor but was quoting the results of studys done by Drs. Most of our cholesterol is made and recycled by the liver so why should the body make anything that was bad for us? Here's an explanation by a doctor (click on 'watch on youtube'): youtu.be/sY48qLl9ZzE?si=ifg...(Not working as expected?)

[BeedieBird in reply to Eryl]

It's a bit more complex than just the Liver producing cholesterol and that's gotta be good for our bodies because the liver produces it. Our liver maintains a balance of that cholesterol in our bodies. If a high fat diet, especially saturated fat, and coconut oil is very high in saturated fat, is maintained the liver has to adapt and try to maintain cholesterol balance due to this influx of high saturated fat through diet. The liver responds by producing more of its own cholesterol. This fat intake can overwhelm our liver and cause an accumulation of cholesterol in both liver and bloodstream which can result as we know in many complications, one being non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I have a good friend, a young man, who went through a liver transplant due to this very issue. Long term exposure of a high saturated diet, is just risky. I'll check out your video.

[Eryl in reply to BeedieBird]

Saturated fat is used by the body for energy storage and our brain is mostly saturated fat so why would eating it be bad for us? Non alcoholic liver disease is often caused by the liver having to process too much glycogen, turning it into fat for storage (neolipogenesis) because of eating too much sugar not because of eating saturated fat. youtu.be/oIWRmOIR_CM?si=9F6...(Not working as expected?)

[BeedieBird in reply to Eryl]

It feels to me like you are talking in black and white/all or nothing terms with respect to saturated fat. I never said you shouldn't eat it. I'm referring to excess. My bone to pick is that consuming excess saturated fat in your mind, is ok and we shouldn't worry about it because it's something our bodies already produce, it's in large quantities already in our body and brain, so there is no need to worry about dietary intake.

NAFLD is complex with multiple contributing factors, and its causes are not as simple as being solely due to excessive glycogen processing or 'solely' saturated fat consumption.

I found this interesting and so might you. A food group analysis of contributors to NAFLD - A Large Case-Control Study

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Part of the summary - see food map image above - of course, we know a lot of this already.

Those with NAFLD consume more cereals (as refined rice), fats and edible oils (as animal fat), meat (as red meat), and sugars (as refined sugar) than controls. They consume fewer vegetables, pulses and legumes, nuts, and dairy products. Through logistic regression analysis, consumption of meat (animal fat and red meat specifically) was strongly associated with susceptibility to NAFLD, and with more significant liver fibrosis—a finding that is mirrored in the recent meta-analysis of NAFLD and diet (OR = 1.12, CI 1.04–1.21, p = 0.002) [34]. Refined dietary carbohydrates consumption has been linked with insulin resistance and increased hepatic de novo lipogenesis [35,36,37]. The high saturated fat content in red meat has been shown to induce hepatic fat accumulation and insulin resistance via lipid oxidation reduction and lipid synthesis acceleration [36,38,39]

Heatmap of Food Groups contributing to NAFLD

[Eryl in reply to BeedieBird]

Saturated fat alone does not cause NAFLD it must be ingested with sugar to affect fat levels in the liver. youtu.be/wKS02vIf3E0?si=6OT...(Not working as expected?)

[JayPwP in reply to Eryl]

Fructose as well

[Eryl in reply to JayPwP]

Half of table sugar is fructose, the other half is glucose. It's rare to find pure fructose, even fruit sugar is only round 55% fructose