Also see:
PUFA, Fish Oil, and Alzheimers
Fish Oil Toxicity
Women, Estrogen, and Circulating DHA
PUFA – Accumulation & Aging
What if there was a Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease and No One Knew?
Ray Peat, PhD Quotes on Coconut Oil
Protect the Mitochondria
PUFA Breakdown Products Depress Mitochondrial Respiration
Estrogen, Glutamate, & Free Fatty Acids
The Brain: Estrogen’s Harm and Progesterone’s Protection
Estrogen’s Role in Seizures
Saturated and Monousaturated Fatty Acids Selectively Retained by Fat Cells
Medium Chain Fats from Saturated Fat – Weight Management Friendly
“The shorter chain fatty acids of coconut oil are more easily oxidized for energy than long chain fatty acids, and their saturation makes them resistant to the random oxidation produced by inflammation, so they don’t support their production of acrolein or age pigment; along with their reported antiinflammatory effect, these properties might be responsible for their beneficial effects that have been seen in Alzheimer’s disease.” -Ray Peat, PhD
“Glucose is often thought of as the most direct source of energy, but other substances are apparently used even more easily. “Ketones” (for example, alpha-keto· or hydroxy-butyrate) are used more easily, at least in some circumstances. Short and medium chain fatty acids are used more easily than glucose, and it is apparently this fact which accounts for their presence in milk. Their effects on cells–induction of hormone receptors and other specialized cell functions. suppression of stress-induced enzymes, stimulation of energy production in fat cells, inhibition of cancer cell division and viral expression, etc. –are what we would expect of an ideal energy source. Unfortunately, commercial milk animals are fed large amounts of grain, the oils of which act in opposition to the short and medium chain fats. Some tropical fruits and coconut oil provide some of these efficient and protective energy sources. As little as one or two teaspoonfuls of coconut oil per day appears to have a strong protective effect against obesity and cancer.” -Ray Peat, PhD
Diabetes. 2009 May;58(5):1237-44. Epub 2009 Feb 17.
Medium-chain fatty acids improve cognitive function in intensively treated type 1 diabetic patients and support in vitro synaptic transmission during acute hypoglycemia.
Page KA, Williamson A, Yu N, McNay EC, Dzuira J, McCrimmon RJ, Sherwin RS.
OBJECTIVE:
We examined whether ingestion of medium-chain triglycerides could improve cognition during hypoglycemia in subjects with intensively treated type 1 diabetes and assessed potential underlying mechanisms by testing the effect of beta-hydroxybutyrate and octanoate on rat hippocampal synaptic transmission during exposure to low glucose.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS:
A total of 11 intensively treated type 1 diabetic subjects participated in stepped hyperinsulinemic- (2 mU x kg(-1) x min(-1)) euglycemic- (glucose approximately 5.5 mmol/l) hypoglycemic (glucose approximately 2.8 mmol/l) clamp studies. During two separate sessions, they randomly received either medium-chain triglycerides or placebo drinks and performed a battery of cognitive tests. In vitro rat hippocampal slice preparations were used to assess the ability of beta-hydroxybutyrate and octanoate to support neuronal activity when glucose levels are reduced.
RESULTS:
Hypoglycemia impaired cognitive performance in tests of verbal memory, digit symbol coding, digit span backwards, and map searching. Ingestion of medium-chain triglycerides reversed these effects. Medium-chain triglycerides also produced higher free fatty acids and beta-hydroxybutyrate levels compared with placebo. However, the increase in catecholamines and symptoms during hypoglycemia was not altered. In hippocampal slices beta-hydroxybutyrate supported synaptic transmission under low-glucose conditions, whereas octanoate could not. Nevertheless, octanoate improved the rate of recovery of synaptic function upon restoration of control glucose concentrations.
CONCLUSIONS:
Medium-chain triglyceride ingestion improves cognition without adversely affecting adrenergic or symptomatic responses to hypoglycemia in intensively treated type 1 diabetic subjects. Medium-chain triglycerides offer the therapeutic advantage of preserving brain function under hypoglycemic conditions without causing deleterious hyperglycemia.
Neurobiol Aging. 2004 Mar;25(3):311-4.
Effects of beta-hydroxybutyrate on cognition in memory-impaired adults.
Reger MA, Henderson ST, Hale C, Cholerton B, Baker LD, Watson GS, Hyde K, Chapman D, Craft S.
Glucose is the brain’s principal energy substrate. In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there appears to be a pathological decrease in the brain’s ability to use glucose. Neurobiological evidence suggests that ketone bodies are an effective alternative energy substrate for the brain. Elevation of plasma ketone body levels through an oral dose of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) may improve cognitive functioning in older adults with memory disorders. On separate days, 20 subjects with AD or mild cognitive impairment consumed a drink containing emulsified MCTs or placebo. Significant increases in levels of the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-OHB) were observed 90 min after treatment (P=0.007) when cognitive tests were administered. beta-OHB elevations were moderated by apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype (P=0.036). For 4+ subjects, beta-OHB levels continued to rise between the 90 and 120 min blood draws in the treatment condition, while the beta-OHB levels of 4- subjects held constant (P<0.009). On cognitive testing, MCT treatment facilitated performance on the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-cog) for 4- subjects, but not for 4+ subjects (P=0.04). Higher ketone values were associated with greater improvement in paragraph recall with MCT treatment relative to placebo across all subjects (P=0.02). Additional research is warranted to determine the therapeutic benefits of MCTs for patients with AD and how APOE-4 status may mediate beta-OHB efficacy.
