Alzheimer’s does not have to be your fate!
Dementia Prevention Should Begin in Your 30s (or sooner!)
Why coconut oil for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia? Ketones are a natural, anti-inflammatory fuel alternative to glucose for your brain and body. The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil and MCT oil are converted to ketones regardless of whatever else you eat and are used immediately as fuel. Studies show that MCT oil, coconut oil, and low-carb ketogenic diets can improve memory, cognition, and other symptoms in people with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s.
Try coconut oil, MCT oil, ketones supplements, or a low-carb diet to boost ketone levels!
How much coconut or MCT oil?
To enjoy the benefits of coconut oil for brain health, here are easy step-by-step instructions for how to add coconut and/or MCT oil to your diet, what products to look for, how to mix the oils, and food ideas.
Coconut and MCT oil FAQ
Answers to “frequently asked questions” about coconut and MCT oil such as what to buy, how to store and cook with the oils, in what types of food the oils work well, how much oil to give children and pets, how to avoid gaining weight, and coconut oil benefits for skin, hair, and teeth.
Low-Carb Ketogenic Diet
Ketone Scientific Research
Dr. Newport on Brain Health
Videos/Podcasts
Welcome to My Website
Updated September 24, 2024. This site, launched in 2008, shares insights and research on ketones and cognitive health, highlighting how coconut oil, MCT oil, and ketone supplements may help. The website is dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by Alzheimer’s and other neurological conditions.
A Welcome message from Dr. Mary Newport
Scroll down for Steve’s story and an update on ketone research.
________________________________________
Alzheimer’s Disease: What If There Was a Cure? The Story of Ketones (3rd Edition, 2023)
by Mary T. Newport, MD, Turner Publishing, 2023
In the 1990s, Richard L. Veech, MD, DPhil of the NIH began to study intensively the potential therapeutic uses of ketones for cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease. Steve Newport’s battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s inspired this book, detailing his remarkable improvement with coconut and MCT oils and Dr. Veech’s ketone ester. The third edition completes Steve’s story and shares accounts of many others with Alzheimer’s, Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s, and other brain disorders who have benefited from ketones. The book explains how coconut oil helps brain function and how ketones can prevent cognitive decline by overcoming insulin resistance, filling in a brain energy gap, and reducing brain inflammation. This 3rd edition documents new research since the previous edition in 2013 on ketone supplements, ketogenic diets, and other ketogenic strategies for neurological, psychiatric, and metabolic disorders like diabetes. BUY NOW
________________________________________
Clearly Keto for Healthy Brain Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention
by Mary T Newport MD, Turner Publishing, 2022
Think better, age better, feel better!
Did you know that at least 40% of dementia cases may be preventable by eating a healthy whole food diet and making better lifestyle choices? Learn about ketones for brain health, how coconut oil helps brain function, and how a ketogenic diet could improve symptoms of memory impairment and Alzheimer’s. Learn how to plan a whole-food low-carb ketogenic Mediterranean-style diet, about the importance of controlling blood sugar, getting more exercise, adequate sleep, treating sleep apnea and high blood pressure, and many more things you can do and things you should avoid to slow cognitive decline and enjoy health aging with step-by-step instructions for making these important changes in your lifestyle. The chapter took ten months to write and explains what goes wrong in the Alzheimer’s and aging brain and how ketones could help. Video: Why I Wrote Clearly Keto BUY BOOK NOW
________________________________________
Ketones in evolution, ketone research, keto diet how-to’s.
The Complete Book of Ketones: A Practical Guide to Ketogenic Diets and Ketone Supplements
by Mary T Newport, MD, Turner Publishing, 2019
Everything you ever wanted to know about ketones!
Ketones provide fuel to the brain and ketones can improve brain function. The book explores the roots of the ketogenic diet a century ago as an effective treatment for epilepsy and the wide range of disorders under investigation now. Also included are interviews with 16 top ketone researchers, dietitians, physicians, and people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases who have had sustained improvement for years by adopting a ketogenic lifestyle including coconut oil, MCT oil, a ketone ester developed at the NIH, and a low-carb ketogenic diet. You will find information on monitoring ketone levels, how to avoid the “keto flu”, and recommendations for children, pregnant women, and elderly adults. You will find step-by-step instructions for planning a healthy whole food low-carb or keto diet and for other ketogenic strategies like adding coconut oil, MCT oil, ketone salts, ketone esters, overnight fasting, exercise, and caffeine. BUY NOW
________________________________________
Combine Coconut and MCT Oil with a Reasonable Low-Carb Diet
The Coconut Oil and Low Carb Solution for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Other Diseases
by Mary T. Newport, M.D, Turner Publishing, 2015
The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are converted to ketones no matter what you consume with it. Ketones are a brain fuel, and you will learn in this book how ketones work to protect the cognitive function. This book discusses in detail how coconut oil benefits the brain, explains that diabetes is a major risk factor for dementia, and how consuming too much sugar is harmful to the brain and other organs. This book is shorter and lighter on the science than Dr. Newport’s other books and offers a step-by-step guide to using coconut oil and MCT oil, reducing sugar and starchy foods in the diet, and increasing heathy fats to increase ketone levels. This is a reasonable, healthy whole-food diet that you can enjoy for a lifetime, and you will find many tasty recipes with coconut and MCT oil to help you get started on your journey to healthier aging. The book includes testimonials from people who have had improvement in their memory and other symptoms. BUY NOW
________________________________________
What coconut oil and ketones did for my husband Steve Newport
Coconut oil contains medium-chain fatty acids that convert to ketones when consumed and coconut oil has other benefits for the brain. Steve was on the verge of severe Alzheimer’s between stages 5 & 6 of 7 stages when he had a dramatic improvement in his cognitive function and physical symptoms from taking coconut oil, the adding MCT oil, and two years later in a pilot study of a ketone ester developed by Dr. Richard Veech at the NIH.
First days: Steve was more alert, more talkative, finished sentences, sense of humor and animation in his face returned, was less distracted, recognized relatives. Hand and facial tremor resolved. Steve said it was like the “light switch came on” in his head the day he started coconut oil.
Original Article by Dr. Newport (2008) –
What If There Was a Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease? (English) (Spanish)
After weeks to months: SEE CLOCK DRAWINGS BELOW. Steve could “do things” again, like cutting the lawn and helping with housework, finishing projects, and became a hospital volunteer. His stiff slow gait resolved after two months. His visual disturbance resolved, and he could read after three months. He could recall what he read hours earlier after nine months. Coconut oil and MCT oil changed our lives for the better.
A message from Dr. Mary Newport
September 2024
It has been more than 16 years since Steve improved in May 2008 with coconut oil, the richest natural source of medium-chain triglycerides, which convert to ketones, an alternative fuel for the brain. Steve was the first person with Alzheimer’s to take an NIH ketone ester in a pilot study in 2010. The ester has now been out on the market since 2018 and has helped many. Steve improved very significantly and steadily the first year and remained stable for nearly four years. He began having seizures in summer 2013 starting with a head injury from a fall and did not fully recover. Despite this serious setback, it was well worth the extra quality years that we had together as a family. He remained in our home with the help of our wonderful caregivers. Although he lost his battle with Alzheimer’s on January 2, 2016 at age 65, there is still hope for others who are at risk or in earlier stages of this horrible disease, and their families might actually win their fight.
Studies using Ketone and Glucose Uptake PET scans show that ketones are taken up normally in the areas of the brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease even when glucose is not, and consuming medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil can fill in the gap between how much energy the brain needs and how much it receives. This strategy could help prevent or delay the onset of this dreadful disease. Many small to medium-size studies have been completed and larger studies are in progress, showing promising results. The Alzheimer’s Association and National Institutes of Health, and other organizations are funding clinical trials of ketogenic diet, low-carb diet, Mediterranean diet, MCT oil, ketone salts and esters for mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. The ketogenic diet is also in clinical trials as an adjunct to standard cancer treatments to slow tumor growth.
I want to thank the more than 500 people who have sent me testimonials for your loved ones who have tried coconut oil and/or MCT oil and/or ketone supplements for Alzheimer’s, other dementias, memory impairment, Parkinson’s and other disorders. While some people have no response, the vast majority have reported improvements in cognitive functions and overall quality of life. Such testimonials (kept anonymous) have helped obtain funding for research.
Steve’s brain was donated to the Florida Brain Bank, a research study for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. We learned that he suffered from both Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia. This gave us great closure and others might consider making a brain donation to further dementia research and discovery of causes and cures.
Ketone therapies are under study at University of South Florida (USF) department of Navy Research under the direction of Dominic D’Agostino, Ph.D. for the treatment of cancer, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), wound healing, oxygen toxicity, epilepsy, status epilepticus, and rare enzyme deficiencies. The cancer studies look at combinations of ketogenic diets with hyperbaric oxygen, ketone esters and glucose-lowering substances to further enhance the effect on killing cancer cells, which thrive on glucose but normally cannot use ketones, while preserving normal cells by providing ketones as fuel. Several studies are published, and many human clinical trials are underway.
More recently, Christpher Palmer MD, Gloria Ede, MD and others have found that the ketogenic diet can help people with psychiatric conditions like bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and even schizophrenia. A new study of ketogenic strategies for Parkinson’s disease will soon be underway and there are currently more than 50 clinical trials underway for use of the ketone ester in a variety of disorders, including diabetes, metabolic syndrome (prediabetes), Alzheimer’s, other dementias, mild cognitive impairment, congestive heart failure, recovery from heart attack, and many others.
You can provide ketones to the brain and other organs as an alternative fuel through adopting a “keto” (ketogenic) diet and by consuming coconut and MCT oil and other foods that contain medium chain triglycerides to produce ketones. Ketone salts and esters provide “instant ketosis,” and many people report benefits. Exercise and overnight fasting can also increase ketone levels.
This should not be taken as medical advice. I strongly urge you to consult with your physician before undertaking a ketogenic diet or using ketone supplements. If you or your loved one is suffering from a chronic or progressive condition, this may be worth considering.
All the Best to You and Your Loved Ones,