Alzheimer's Disease: What If There Was a Cure?: The Story of Ketones Paperback – August 15, 2011

This book deserves at least ten stars, because it is two five-star books in one. The first book is a moving account of the descent of the author's husband, Steve, into early-onset Alzheimer's disease and his dramatic improvement with the addition of a fairly small amount of coconut oil - and later, MCT oil - into his diet. Although Steve is by no means cured, his improvement is well documented and outside the range that can be expected from current standard Alzheimer medications. Dr. Newport carefully explains the line of reasoning that led her to try coconut oil and her utter amazement at the results. It also chronicles her efforts to spread the news about this discovery, the indifference they met from prominent people concerned about the disease, and the outright hostility they encountered from the organizers of the 2008 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease. It is hard to escape the conclusion that the threat to the profits of makers of Alzheimer medications from a more effective and far less expensive treatment had something to do with the reception Dr. Newport received, as well as with why Dr. Veech at NIH could not get funding for his project to make enough ketone ester to conduct human experiments. The last chapter of this section summarizes reports from caregivers for 60 other patients with Alzheimer's disease or other degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Of these, 54 reported improvement, 1 noted a slowing of decline, and 5 showed no effect.The second half of the book explains for the intelligent reader what is known about the biochemistry of fats. The technical level of the writing here is comparable to what you find in Scientific American. The solid science here strongly supports Dr. Newport's stunning conjecture that something as simple as coconut oil could help people with Alzheimer's disease. That it helped Steve Newport is abundantly proven in the first half.Efforts to put down this work - of which I have seen several - because it does not come supported by large-scale trials completely miss the point. Dr. Newport would welcome such studies, but she is not in a position to conduct them. Rather, she wants to share with other caregivers of Alzheimer patients both her surprisingly successful experience with a simple, inexpensive remedy and the chain of reasoning that led her to conjecture that it might work. She has done both wonderfully well. I should think that anyone caring for an Alzheimer patient would want to read this book and try what worked for the Newports. There is little to lose and possibly much to gain.I also want to mention that, in her review of relevant literature, Dr. Newport points out numerous popular misconceptions, from which I - for one - suffered. For example, (a) the case against saturated fats was based on the fraudulent statistical technique of fitting a curve through carefully selected observations and not even mentioning the many other available observations that lie nowhere near the curve [pages 287-93], (b) the large-scale, fifty-year Framingham Heart Study did not find "a connection between fat or saturated fat intake and increased risk of heart disease or stroke" [p.291] (c) this same study showed that low HDL was a risk factor for heart disease, but high LDL was not [p.305]. A recent extensive review of the literature on statins found that women never benefit from them, nor do men over 70. The only group which appears to benefit is middle-aged men under 65 who have high LDL in addition to other cardiac risk factors [p.307].

Anyone facing the prospect of Alzheimer's in themselves or a loved one needs this book. As the baby boomer population ages, Alzheimer's will become a crisis not only for most American families but for society and the health care system as a whole. Parts of the book get a bit technical but for the most part it is accessible to the general public. If I were to reduce the take home message to a single paragraph, here's what it would be:Some people have physical difficulty converting carbohydrates into fuel usable by the brain, and Dr. Mary Newport has hypothesized that this could well be the root cause of Alzheimer's. Using her husband as a test subject, after extensive research and experimentation she found that a diet rich in certain kinds of oils called medium chain triglycerides get converted into "ketones" which is an effective form of brain nourishment. A diet rich in coconut oil is a convenient, low cost way to give the brain what it needs without harmful side effects. Her husband's unmistakable progress led to many studies that have since elevated Dr. Newport's theory out of the realm of speculation and into a viable clinical approach. In my humble opinion, there is ample evidence to support a ketonic diet for those at risk of Alzheimer's whether or not it is widely accepted by mainstream medicine. The key is you have to do your own research and that's precisely why this book is a valuable resource.I feel bad saying this, but if your solution is to outsource the care of your loved one to a conventional doctor, there is a high likelihood they will place the patient on a standard prescription for Alzheimer's which will have almost no effect. The approach in this book can be described as "grass roots", meaning you are travelling down this path on your own.If I have a complaint about the book it is that it ignores a multitude of other home remedies that show some promise in reducing, treating, or delaying Alzheimer's. A good adjunct to Dr. Newport's book is "Your Miracle Brain" by Jean Carper. Taken together, they provide an excellent arsenal in the war on Alzheimer's. To all you aging baby boomers out there: Don't be a victim. Be proactive.