Can coconut oil help with dementia and Alzheimer's disease?

Since Dr. Mary Newport’s book Alzheimer’s Disease: What if There Was a Cure? was released in 2011, more and more people are using coconut oil to keep dementia at bay. Newport’s own husband has Alzheimer’s, and after traditional medicine failed to slow his deterioration, Newport tried administering coconut oil and observed positive results.

Many have since followed in Newport’s footsteps and have seen similarly positive outcomes. Despite the many reported successes, coconut oil still isn’t recognized by mainstream medicine due to the lack of the research.

It looks like that lack of research is changing—in December 2015, a study published in the Spanish journal Nutrición Hospitalaria found that Alzheimer’s patients who took coconut oil showed an improvement in cognitive status. There is another clinical study underway in the US that is expected to be published sometime in mid-2017.

Click to the next page to read more about how coconut oil could help with Alzheimer’s.

How could coconut oil help with dementia?

Though the scientific community has just started doing research on this topic, there are some theories. According to the Alzheimer’s Society, coconut oil might serve as an alternative energy source for brain cells. This was based on how children with epilepsy were treated successfully with a ketogenic diet. This diet strictly limits the intake of carbohydrates, replacing them with fat, forcing the body to use fat as its primary energy source. Therefore, just adding coconut oil to the diet would not provide the brain with the energy it needs. 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Other coconut oil benefits

Though the word “oil” might make you recoil instinctively, you can’t go wrong with organic, cold-pressed, non-hydrogenated, virgin coconut oil. Coconut oil is great for your heart; improves brain function, your body’s use of insulin, and cholesterol; boosts thyroid function, giving you more energy; acts as an antioxidant; and makes your skin and hair look great.