Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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My grandad was just diagnosed with alzheimer. My mom is now on a frantic search to learn as much about the disease as possible. I've heard a good about of noise about ketosis helping alzheimer's but haven't found too much of substance. Does a ketogenic diet help relieve alzheimer's symptoms?

flag	asked Dec 15 2010 at 20:32 No more. 5,534●2●11●40

Tim Rangitsch · Answer 1 · 2010-12-15 20:58:19Z UTC

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Dig into this blog, Dr Newport has some good info on ketosis and Alzheimer's:

http://coconutketones.blogspot.com/

http://coconutketones.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html to get you hooked on the idea.

edited Dec 15 2010 at 20:58

answered Dec 15 2010 at 20:46

Tim Rangitsch
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Yes, Dr. Newport's websites are the place to go on this subject. She put her husband on a ketogenic diet (using MCT oil and coconut oil) and his dementia improved a great deal. – Rob from ketocure.com Dec 16 2010 at 18:47

Thank you for posting the links to Dr. Newport's blog. Her posts are most useful. – PaleoGran Jan 14 2011 at 12:08

kricka · Answer 2 · 2010-12-15 21:03:18Z UTC

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I heard daily doses of coconut oil (extra virgin, of course) helps. I have no links to back that up, but I bet there are some out there.

answered Dec 15 2010 at 21:03

kricka
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Steve · Answer 3 · 2010-12-15 21:30:30Z UTC

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Also, check out Phosphatidlyserine.

answered Dec 15 2010 at 21:30

Steve
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haig · Answer 4 · 2010-12-15 21:49:10Z UTC

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I've recently become addicted (pun intended) to reading the Evolutionary Psychiatry blog by Dr. Emily Deans. The link provided breaks down her post archive by condition, so just scroll down to the 'Dementia' section and you can find all the posts on Alzheimer's.

answered Dec 15 2010 at 21:49

haig
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Yes, that looks really good. The first link in the dementia section -- evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2010/09/… -- will direct you back to the chapter in Taubes that talks about Alzheimer's, probably another good place to start; will get you some studies to look at also. – Paul Dec 16 2010 at 0:32

Jay · Answer 5 · 2010-12-16 02:03:36Z UTC

There was a lot of buzz about coconut oil and MCTs on the theory that brain cells in the AD brain lose the ability to uptake glucose (so-called 3rd form of diabetes), so having some ketones floating around allows them to eat... A full ketosis diet is hard to do and may not be warranted (the beauty of MCTs). I haven't heard any updates in the past year or two though... Hopefully, that's not a sign that the method isn't sound.
Similar story for methylene blue (blue acquarium die)... A UK company was trying to lauch a drug called Rember that was basicaly just methylene blue. There was a lot of buzz a while back and then nothing... You can buy mehtylene blue in a pet store and, if you are smart and careful, figure out how to titrate it to the proper dose... I don't know anything about side effects or safety issues so you should definitely do your research before trying something like this.
I've also heard good things about high dose B vitamins... Claims that it can stop progression in its tracks.

The basic anti-inflammatories like vit D, fish oil (or better yet, actual fish; like wild salmon), turmeric, etc may also help slow progression a bit.

Go to the imminst forums for more and much better info that you will find here.

Scott · Answer 6 · 2010-12-16 18:14:59Z UTC

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A person with alzheimers is experiencing insulin resistance in the brain. This starves the brain of fuel and so you need to get a different fuel to the brain. A ketogenic diet will do this.

answered Dec 16 2010 at 18:14

Scott
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PaleoGran · Answer 7 · 2011-01-17 11:16:38Z UTC

Yes, this study might be of interest.

http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/2/1/28

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily strikes the elderly. Studies in both humans and animal models have linked the consumption of cholesterol and saturated fats with amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition and development of AD. Yet, these studies did not examine high fat diets in combination with reduced carbohydrate intake. Here we tested the effect of a high saturated fat/low carbohydrate diet on a transgenic mouse model of AD.

Conclusion: Previous studies have suggested that diets rich in cholesterol and saturated fats increased the deposition of Aβ and the risk of developing AD. Here we demonstrate that a diet rich in saturated fats and low in carbohydrates can actually reduce levels of Aβ. Therefore, dietary strategies aimed at reducing Aβ levels should take into account interactions of dietary components and the metabolic outcomes, in particular, levels of carbohydrates, total calories, and presence of ketone bodies should be considered.

This article at the "Pediatric Journal" is an overview of current uses for ketogenic diets. It contains reference links to many studies, including the one above.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/119/3/535

I, too, recommend reading Dr. Mary Newport's blog:

http://coconutketones.blogspot.com/

All the best to you.

Alzheimer and Ketosis

7 Answers