There are two points to be drawn from what I've read.
(1) With coconut oil, you don't know how much of the fats are being turned into ketone bodies ... so you don't know what "dose" you're actually giving. SOME of it is being transformed and helping. With MCT oil, especially the emulsified product, you have a much better idea of the dose.
(2) The fats in coconut oil may not be heart-healthy, depending on the age, gender, genetic makeup, and general health of the person consuming it. MCT oil, as far as we know, does not pose a potential risk to anyone.
So, like I said, I think I will use a little coconut oil now and then, for a change of pace -- a brand that TASTES like coconut oil. The most expensive type I tried, with the best MCT profile, has no taste whatsoever! Since my ADLO is a man, and older, saturated fats may not pose as much of a risk as they would for a younger female.
Very interesting Sunshyne! You put a lot of work into the study of fats. I may have to read it a few times but what interested me and maybe I should have known is that diabetes is connected with AD. My DH has an identical twin brother, 72, and he has no symptoms of diabetes and no AD. My DH was diagnosed with DM non-insulin dependent about 5 years ago and signs of Ad for at least 3 years. He had a different life style than his brother being a heavy drinker in younger years and a smoker.
Nancy, I believe that studies on the relationship between the two are pretty recent. I happened to notice it when looking into clinical trials, and discovered several trials on intranasal insulin as a possible treatment for AD and other disorders -- NCT00581867, NCT00438568, and NCT00570050. (These are the identifier numbers on the government web site on clinical trials: http://clinicaltrial.gov/ )
The description for NCT00570050, which is on the treatment of euthymic (i.e., otherwise normal) people with major depressive disorder, says in part:
"It is hypothesized that intranasal administration of insulin will enhance hippocampal-dependent neurocognitive performance in euthymic individuals with major depressive disorder. This novel initiative represents a proof-of-concept study that insulin is salient to neurocognitive functioning in major depressive disorder; it also represents a novel and safe therapeutic avenue. The available literature suggests that the acute administration of intranasal insulin enhances cognition in memory-impaired older adults with either Alzheimer's disease or minimal cognitive impairment. Prior research demonstrates a cognitive enhancing effect of insulin within one hour of the first intranasal insulin dose. Other studies suggest that the long-term administration of intranasal insulin (i.e. over eight weeks) enhances memory performance in human volunteers. We aim to evaluate the acute and long-term effects of intranasal insulin administration in persons with major depressive disorder. As such, the neuropsychological testings will be conducted at three time points: the week before receiving insulin, within one hour of the first dose and after eight weeks of insulin administration. "
There's also a study to determine whether using Metformin to lower peripheral insulin in overweight patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (amnestic MCI) can decrease the risk of cognitive decline and progression to AD. And another on rosiglitazone, which they say is an "insulin-sensitizing" medication, to improve the attention and memory skills in MCI patients.
The relation between diabetes and AD is interesting to me because my DH was having "spells" when he felt lightheaded, queasy, and not able to think clearly. I thought he may be having mini strokes or something. After starting cinnamon capsules, which are supposed to help regulate blood sugar, the spells went completely away. He doesn't have diabetes but I believe he was having a rush of insulin when these spells happen. His AD also seems better.
I just can't tell you how much I appreciate your research. Thank you again and again.
Kurve Technology Inc, a leader in nasal drug delivery devices, today announced the delivery of insulin by the ViaNase electronic atomizer significantly improved memory in patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) or Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
In a recent study presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease by investigators from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Washington and the University of Washington School of Medicine, ViaNase intranasally delivered insulin or placebo to twenty four study participants. Treatment was well-tolerated, with no serious adverse events or changes in plasma glucose or insulin levels.
Compared with the placebo-treated group, the insulin-treated group showed enhanced ability to retain verbal information after a delay. Although memory savings scores were no different between the two groups at baseline, they were significantly higher in the insulin-treated group at day 21. During the six month trial, ViaNase delivered over 1,000 doses without a single failure. Patients ranged in age from 65-95 years. A longer-term trial will begin in October.
"Intranasal insulin administration improved memory by about 20%," said VA Principal Investigator and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Suzanne Craft, PhD. "This degree of memory improvement can be considered clinically significant. "
Recent evidence suggests that disorders of insulin metabolism, such as insulin resistance and diabetes, increase the risk for developing AD. According to the Alzheimer's Association ( http://www.alz.org ), an estimated 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease - a number expected to increase to 11 -16 million by 2050. Finding a treatment that delays onset by five years could reduce the number of individuals with Alzheimer's disease by nearly 50 percent after 50 years.
"The ViaNase electronic atomizer performed flawlessly throughout the duration of the clinical trial period. In addition to improvement in daily function and memory, study participants and their caregivers found the device easy to use and extremely reliable," said Kurve Technology's CEO Marc Giroux.
"Intranasal" just means that a med is administered through the nose, rather than by mouth, intravenous injection, or injection into the muscle (like a flu vaccination injected into the arm). There are a number of different ways to administer drugs through the nose, using a powder or liquid atomizer (a nose spray), or gel, for example.
When drugs are given orally, they go through the digestive tract, which can degrade or destroy many compounds, especially proteins. (Insulin is a small protein.) Intranasal administration of insulin bypasses the digestive tract, and gets the insulin directly into the cerebrospinal fluid.
This is a nice article on intranasal insulin. It's out-of-date (2005), but explains things quite well: http://www.neurologyreviews.com/sep05/insulinAD.html
Other articles: http://www.dana.org/grants/imaging/detail.aspx?id=11666
Has anyone ever polled the members of this forum to get an idea of what percentage of ADLOs also suffer from diabetes? I know that Frances was diagnosed with Type 2 about 8 years ago -- which, coincidentally (or maybe not) was about the time we first started noticing memory issues.
Gourdchipper, I graduated from High School 53 years ago and once a month about 10 of us along with spouses, if still around, gather for dinner. Of that 20 at least half of them have diabetes. My AD spouse does not and I do not. None of the others have AD, that I am aware of, so I think it is not connected to AD. They are all in their 70's and could still get AD.
Bluedaze, there's lots of research going on re the intranasal insulin, including a couple of clinical trials that just started up. Everything looks positive, that's why I've been following it a little -- I just don't know whether the approach will be good for all AD patients, or only a limited subset. I need to look into that more, when I have time. And Kurve Tech is still around, I just haven't seen any news releases from them, and I didn't really look closely at their site to see what they're doing these days. They may not have very good patent protection, since this general approach is being pursued by a lot of other companies, including some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies. Patents are probably limited to the exact type of intranasal administration technique that's used. Plus there's a German company that's developing an intranasal treatment based on an analog of insulin, and it's supposed to be even better, per the initial clinical trial results.
I don't think the AD patient has to have diabetes per se to benefit from the intranasal insulin approach.
My DH become diabetic due to taking seroquel and then zyprexa for a few months several yrs ago. its a known side effect that it can raise blood sugar levels in some individuals. some of these other AD drug and or black boxed ones or neuroleptics could also have this side effect but i dont know for sure except the two we used above. after coming off them DH is back to normal blood sugar but it stayed that way over a yr. no insulin-we controlled with diet but had to prick his finger daily..i am glad we caught it early. check the inserts in your medications and see if any of them have the warnings..Divvi
Sunshyne, I should have known what intranasal meant...but I didn't.
I read all the links and they were very interesting. Everything I hear about is still in the early stages of being developed or discovered and we need something NOW before DH gets any worse!
Bluedaze, your post was also very interesting. I feel like I just can't get enough information on any possible treatment.
I know how you feel, Dazed. That's why my husband and I participated in one clinical trial and are searching for another. (The woman running the Bap trial promptly said "no way Jose" after she found out my husband is on huperzine, even though the neuro said the dose is so low, they should accept him. But she says there's a new trial starting in June, and offered forward my info to the person running that. Don't know what the med is, yet. And how do I keep my husband functioning well enough to still qualify in six months... besides feeding him MCT oil, that is!)
Waiting for new meds to go through the FDA approval process just takes too durned long. Yes, the process is necessary, to identify the meds that actually work, and the optimum dose, and the safety profile ... but dadblastit, it takes forever!
Where do you get the MCT oil? Would they have it at my health food store and is that what I would ask for...MCT oil? Since I have definitely seen some improvement with the coconut oil, I want to continue with maybe a combination of that and the MCT oil. This is the best thing I know to do right now in addition to his regular AD meds. I wouldn't participate in any trials that require DH be taken off the aricept and namenda. I've heard too many reports of a steep decline. Don't want to take that chance.
A health food store may have MCT oil, and yes, that is what you'd ask for. The only type I've found in local stores is the "MCT Fuel", which is an emulsion. It's more expensive than the pure MCT oil, and you also have to take more of it since it IS an emulsion and therefore isn't as concentrated. But it's also much more bioavailable when in the emulsified form -- the medicinal food that Accera is developing is an emulsified product.
Or you can order it online. I got my first batch of "Ultimate Nutrition Premium MCT Gold" from Discount Anabolics (www.discountanabolics.com) and just ordered some more. Good price, good service so far.
I feel that I am seeing some very positive improvement in my husband on the MCT oils. However, it is so subjective that I wonder if I am just seeing what I hope to see. Every time he remembers something for more than two minutes, I think it’s great. When he remembered that we missed our family Christmas celebration the previous day (because of the weather) I’m ecstatic. He seems more alive and conversational when around other people.
I am using Now brand MCT oil. It has per tablespoon 7.8 g of Caprilic Acid (8-chain) and 6.2 g of Capric Acid (10-chain). In checking online I could not find the content of the emulsified brands. I give him one tablespoon at breakfast and another at noon.
I have used coconut oil for cooking for about four years. It is also the only skin cream I have used in that time.
Something I was wondering about—if the MCT oils are helpful for the AD brain, would it be good for the normal (however you might define that) brain? Should I be using some of the oil myself?
Sunshyne, I am getting info together to give to our doctor. I recall you said that you had some more technical papers on the subject. I wonder if I could get copies of those.
Lori, you are a glutton for punishment! I would be happy to send more info to you. Do you want to set up a temporary email account? Or just temporarily let your email address show in your account here, and then block it again when I've retrieved it? Or post your email address here and then edit your post to take it back off again? Or ... ?
She asked us a while back not to use her for communications ... she has too much to do. I've changed the preferences on my account so that my email will show. Let me know when you've got it.
Depends. A couple of people on the Alz Assoc site have complained of getting a slew of spam after they posted their addresses.
Also, some of us are not terribly anxious to be identified -- charming relatives, for example. Email addresses can give one's identity away. (I have a new one that I use just for communications with people here, or for the caregiver surveys, etc.)
I was doing a search for something the other day, and promptly turned up my most recent post here.
Dr. Oz is recommending a short time before you eat your big meal of the day you eat 1 slice of whole grain bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil - to fill you up and help your heart etc. Would MCT or cocanut oil work as a substitute?
I would think either one would help fill you up. Coconut oil wouldn't be good for your heart, however. MCT oil would be neutral for the heart, possibly very good for the brain.
Since starting Frances on 1000 mg cinnamon twice daily five weeks ago, and about 10 mg MCT twice daily four weeks ago, the myoclonic jerking and seizures that she'd been experiencing with increasing frequency have diminished noticeably -- no further seizures in the past month and little jerking -- and my impression is that she's "brighter". I'm not sure that it's the cinnamon or MCT that's made the difference, but I certainly intend to continue both!
OOPS -- I had meant to say 10 g MCT, not 10 mg -- and no, I hadn't gotten into the eggnog a day early -- I posted that late at night and I just have more sense in the morning than late at night (sheepish grin).
Did any of you watch Home For The Holidays last night about adoptees? Frances stayed up past her usual 8:00 p.m. bedtime to watch that and harmonize Christmas carols with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw -- she's still able to fake harmony as well as she ever could, which is remarkable to me. She also remembered, without prompting, that I have an adopted brother, although she did have a little trouble getting that into a coherent sentence.
We'll enjoy a very low key Christmas this year. A favorite niece, who has been more like a daughter to us, will bring her tribe over here and prepare a Christmas Eve meal in our kitchen, and then tomorrow a dear lady friend will come over and help me prepare a huge pot of "Frances's Famous Chili" to be shared with a few friends who may stop by. My son and I got the tree down from the attic yesterday and will put it up today, but very little decorating is planned beyond that. I hope all of you wonderful folks will have have the merriest possible Christmas!
My husband, who usually can't remember anything for two minutes, just asked me whether or not we bought the mattress we looked at--over three months ago. MCT oil at work?
Just tripped across a new publication by the Accera folks. Lori, you may want to take a copy of this along to your doctor, too. Some of it is rehashing (although phrased in different ways that may make it easier to understand), plus there's some new info including a brief summary of a clinical trial on "age-associated memory impairment."
I went to my health food store here a couple of days ago and asked for MCT oil. The sales lady just gave me a blank stare. She took me back to the fish oil, flax oil, grapeseed oil and others but she had never heard of MCT oil.
Dazed, I can find MCT Fuel (the orange-flavored emulsion) at some of the local health food stores. Haven't been able to find just the straight oil, e.g., MCT Gold, anywhere except on the web. Not that I've looked in a whole bunch of places, mind you, since ordering via the internet is so much easier than making a special trip to a health food store.
Just ordered it on line. I was also reading that it's supposed to help with weight loss. Oh dear, DH is so very thin, I hope it doesn't cause weight loss for him. I think I will use it...I can just see the weight falling off and my brain getting sharper. <grin>
Sunshyne, while you were researching coconut/MCT oil, did you read anything to indicate whether it actually helps turn back the clock in Alzheimer's or is it just another thing that helps with the symptoms?
I haven't seen anything that suggests it's a cure, by any means. However, I have seen it called "potentially disease modifying" (and by researchers other than those at Accera.)
Assuming that MCT oil does everything that a ketogenic diet does (and there's no guarantee of that), it has a lot more of an effect on the body than just providing the brain with an energy source. Ketone body infusion, ketogenic diets, and/or calorie reduction (fasting) have been shown to help prevent apoptosis (cell death), protect hippocampal neurons exposed to Abeta peptide (a toxic fragment of amyloid protein), minimize the production of Abeta, minimize beta-amyloid deposition, decrease free radical production, and activate anti-inflammatory mechanisms, among other things. High ketone body levels also changed the expression of a number of genes, upregulating (turning on) hippocampal genes encoding energy metabolism and mitochondrial enzymes -- i.e., apparently causing the production of more mitochondria.
But since we don't know what actually triggers the AD cascade ... then I don't think we have any idea, yet, of whether it's possible to turn it around, or even completely stop it.
I was talking to my naturopath and chiropractor - both recommended 4 grams fish oil and 600mg CoQ10. We already take both, but not in those high of dosages. I am going to increase both on him to see if it slows it down. He is on galantamine but want to try the natural - can't hurt.
We also take the cinnamon. I am insulin resistant and I have found it helps a alot
Nope, dummy me..didn't see anything about that just the three Tablespoons daily...he only took one for three days, but I'm not too sure I'll get him to try again. I will try, however.
kathi, aww you gave too much too soon. i am only giving one TEASPOON//day and see some improvements. if i gave 3 TABlespoons i'd be double duty poo patrol for days...try just once a day and teaspoon! divvi
If you got MCT oil, you can just mix a little into his food when he isn't watching. He'll never know it's there. It really doesn't have any flavor, I tried it.
Coconut oil may or may not have a coconut taste, it depends on which brand you get.
kathi, I've been giving coconut oil or MCT oil for over a month and I've just now worked up to 1 teaspoon in the morning and 1 teaspoon in the evening. I'm trying to gradually work up to more than a tablespoon. There are so many ways to use it that, like Sunshyne says, he will never know he's taking it. Today, I put a teas. in his morning oatmeal and this evening, a teas. in his soup. Give it another try very gradually...even if you have to start with just 2 or 3 drops. Too many of us have noticed good changes for it to be a coincidence.
I started out with the coconut oil because that was what I had on hand. Since I have already been using it for cooking for a few years, I did not have to start out as slowly as some of you have had to. Almost immediately I ordered the MCT oil (Now Brand--not the emulsified that Sunshyne is using)--it has more 8-chain fatty acids and is easier to use than coconut oil. I have been giving him a tablespoon in the morning in a smoothie and a tablespoon at noon. Then I use maybe a teaspoon at dinner.
I was just reading a post by Dr. Newport on the Alz Forum. She states "after more than seven months, he (her husband) has retained all of his improvements and continues to improve, albeit more gradually now." This gives me hope that this isn't just a flash-in-the-pan, short term occurance.
I reread the container I got and there was no mention of starting slowly. G isn't that far down the road yet that I hide things like this. He willingly started again with a teaspoon. There is no way I could sneak something in on him now, but fortunately, it doesn't seem to be necessary. Charge ahead.
I started DH on 1 Tablespoon MCT Gold (he weighs 175 lbs.) Fish oil gel caps and a tablet of Ginkgold Max. Ordered them from Amazon. It took a week to get them. Just started this today. I'll keep you posted. I never did find any coconut oil on that site.
Went out in search of coconut oil or MCT oil. GNC and Whole Foods had the coconut oil but neither had heard of MCT oil. GNC had coconut oil gelcaps. Anyone try them? I wonder if they get absorb as well? Anyway, I bought the coconut oil and will start it tomorrow. HB chose the one with coconut flavor which Whole Foods carries. I wonder how it will taste with peanut butter?? I love toast and peanut butter. He figures his strawberry jam will go well with it. :-)