Anyone who has ever taken a hammer to a coconut will know that it is a hard nut to crack. Is it worth the effort? Most definitely, especially if your goal is to maintain your cognitive faculties and ward off dementia.
Some extraordinary health claims have been made about the coconut, some more imaginative than others. Traditionally, it is said to cure virtually everything, from abscesses to syphilis, from baldness to toothache.
Evidence to support most of these claims is lacking. But when it comes to dementia, in particular Alzheimer’s, it’s a different story.
The focus of this research is fat, extracted from the meat of the coconut. It is this fat that is key to better brain health, and it is almost entirely saturated. Disregard everything you have been told about saturated fat. Your brain (like the rest of you) needs it to function at optimal level.
Around 92 per cent of the fat in coconut is saturated, and is mainly in the form of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). These MCTs are at the centre of some very exciting research.
People with Alzheimer’s disease have impaired glucose uptake – their ability to use glucose as a source of brain fuel is about 15 per cent lower where there is mild to moderate Alzheimer’s, and about 7-10 per cent lower where there is mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a pre-dementia stage.
Over 80 per cent of people with Alzheimer’s disease have either type 2 diabetes or abnormal blood sugar levels. So close is the link between the two conditions that scientists sometimes now refer to Alzheimer’s as “type 3 diabetes.” This term was first coined by researchers writing in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2005.
People with type 2 diabetes do not produce enough insulin, or cannot use insulin properly. Insulin regulates glucose levels, and this glucose comes from the carbohydrates that you eat.
Cut Carbs, Make Ketones
If you eliminate or greatly reduce your carbohydrate intake, your body will switch to burning fat for energy. That is why a low carbohydrate diet is so popular as a weight loss method. It forces your body to draw on its fat reserve (adipose tissue), and release fatty acids for oxidation.
Some of those fatty acids are converted in the liver into substances called ketones. It is these ketones that provide an alternative fuel to glucose. When glucose is absent, or its use is dysfunctional, the brain will happily switch to burning ketones instead. Once you are burning ketones, you are in a state of ketosis.
And here is where the coconut magic begins.
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