Awakening From Alzheimer's Series

This is a very helpful and informative FREE web series currently in progress with a new episode each 24 hours. The entire series will be repeated on October 6 through 9. I am one of the speakers. Other featured speakers are Dr. Dale Bredesen, who has a studied protocol for Alzheimer's that has put some people in the earlier stages back to work, Dr. David Perlmutter, a neurologist whose neurosurgeon father suffered from Alzheimer's, and has written excellent books on the microbiome and effect of gluten on Alzheimer's and other disorders.  Dr. Dominic D'Agostino and Dr. Angela Poff, who study many aspect of ketones including cancer, and many more...

Watch as the world’s leading experts in Alzheimer’s and dementia share their most effective breakthroughs and discoveries after decades of grueling research in this groundbreaking series.

Join hundreds of thousands of people and watch the series trailer here ► https://wr374.isrefer.com/go/trailerfba/marynewport

USING PRUVIT KETONE SALTS IN THE ELDERLY AND PEOPLE WITH MEDICAL CONDITIONS

by Mary T. Newport, M.D.

I receive emails and Facebook messages from many people who are using or want to use ketone salts for themselves or their loved ones, many of whom are elderly or may have medical conditions and want to make their life better.  Here is some guidance for how to get started with ketone salts:

HOW KETONES COULD HELP

Pruvit ketone salts are nutritional supplements and have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA to treat any medical condition.  On the other hand, there is plenty of scientific evidence that raising ketones can provide alternative fuel to the brain, reduce inflammation, and burn fat.  Many people report increased energy, endurance, focus and mental clarity, improved mood and sleep, fewer aches and pains, and fat loss.

TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR

As with any nutritional supplement, it is important for elderly people and people with medical conditions to consult with their physician before using ketone salts.  The doctor could monitor your blood pressure and check blood levels of electrolytes, glucose and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium) before you get started and after 3 to 6 weeks or so.  Pruvit ketone salts are the first product marketed widely to the public that contains the actual ketone body betahydroxybutyrate attached to the mineral salts sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium.  Many people need to watch their sodium intake, may be on diuretics that may cause loss of minerals from the body, and/or may be taking potassium.  Keto//OS 2.1 and 3.0 have 1400 mg to 1600 mg per serving packet (or full scoop if you have a can of product).  Keto//OS 3.0 (chocolate swirl) also has 490 mg of potassium, compared to just 47 mg in Keto//OS 2.1 (orange dream). 

                

Another option to reduce sodium and potassium intake with ketone salts is to use KetoMax, which contains much less sodium per full serving at 925 mg and minimal potassium at 75 mg.  Another great reason to use KetoMax is that it contains a higher percentage of the circulating form of betahydroxybutyrate and may be even more effective than Keto//OS.  I recommend KetoMax especially for people with medical and neurologic conditions such as Parkinson’s, dementia, and Alzheimer’s. It costs more but the value is there. Your doctor or a dietician can help you factor the mineral salts into your diet and adjust, for example, your potassium supplement to account for the amounts in ketone salts.

                

People with diabetes taking medications and/or insulin need to be aware that raising ketone levels with ketone salts may result in a significantly lower blood sugar along with a drop in the amount of insulin the body produces. To avoid abnormally low blood sugar, I recommend that you monitor your blood sugar closely and work with your doctor to make changes in your medications.  Many diabetics report that they are able to reduce their medications, including insulin, rather quickly over days to several weeks, especially if using ketone salts is combined with a low carbohydrate diet. Pruvit ketone salts contain minimal sugar and are sweetened with stevia and/or erithritol, a sugar alcohol.

Regarding diabetic ketoacidosis, this is an abnormal condition that occurs with very elevated blood sugar and inadequate insulin.  Levels of ketones are many times (20 to 50 times higher) than the levels you would get by taking a serving or two per day of ketone salts.  The risk is extremely low, but could be a problem for someone on the brink of diabetic ketoacidosis.   Ketone levels can easily be monitored with a Precision Xtra or NovaMax glucose/ketone monitor using ketone strips, available online without a prescription.  Ketone salts usually produce betahydroxubutyrate levels in the 0.5 to 2 mmol range, compared to 10 to 25 mmol in diabetic ketoacidosis.

START SLOWLY AND INCREASE AS TOLERATED

While it is tempting to start with a whole serving in hopes of seeing maximum benefits right away, I recommend in elderly people and those with medical conditions, to start with 1 or 2 level teaspoons per day, which would be equal to about 1/8 to 1/4 of a serving, and if there is no issue, such as intestinal distress, you could increase by the same amount every few days until arriving at ½ to 1 full serving per day.  The total amount could be divided into smaller portions throughout the day.

                

Also, it is very important that the person taking ketone salts take plenty of water and other clear liquids.  Ketone salts can have a dehydrating effect in some people, especially in the beginning.

                

Ketones can suppress appetite, which is great if you need to lose weight.  If you are very thin you might consider adding more calories to your diet with calorie dense foods such as coconut oil, olive oil, butter, cream, avocado and nuts.

BRING THESE GUIDELINES TO YOUR DOCTOR

Ketone salts are so new that most doctors don’t know about them yet much less the potential of ketones to provide alternative fuel to the brain and other organs, reduce inflammation, and burn fat.  I suggest that you take a copy of these guidelines to your doctor.  Many doctors decide to pass this information on to other patients when they see improvement in just one of their patients.  Some doctors may even decide to help their patients by providing ketone salts as samples or ordering them through their office.

                

For more information see:  www.coconutketones.com and www.marynewport.pruvitnow.com. 

Fuel for Thought

Many people ask me to suggest a convenient way that does not involve cooking to provide coconut and MCT oil for their loved ones who are in assisted living, or are looking for a convenient way to take it at home, or carry along while travelling or just out and about.  One such product is called Fuel for Thought and is available directly from Cognate Nutritionals by way of  www.cognatenutritionals.com or by calling  (855) 453-8663.  The company is located in the USA in Connecticut.  In the first edition of my book, the working name of this product was Cocomul but is now called Fuel for Thought.

Steve and I have had the opportunity to try out Fuel for Thought and it is a delicious, creamy vanilla flavored liquid that is easiest taken as is but can also be mixed into other foods and liquids.  Fuel for Thought® has been scientifically designed to provide a high concentration of MCTs which are partly converted in the liver to ketones that act as alternative fuel for brain cells.  In this regard, it has been designed to support cognitive health.  The makers state this product contains NO cholesterol, gluten, transfats, soy, dairy, or fructose, is vegetarian and very low in sodium. 

The beauty of Fuel for Thought is that it is packaged in one ounce single-serving bottles that do not require refrigeration, and are  sold as a case containing 60 doses.  For someone in assisted living, rather than trying to provide food containing coconut oil or getting the staff to give the patient coconut oil, the loved one's physician could order that Fuel for Thought be provided to the patient at set times of day, with meals, for example.

The recommendation from the company is to take one bottle twice a day, beginning with a portion of the bottle initially and increasing as tolerated.  The product is designed such that the amount of ketones produced by taking one ounce is equal to three tablespoons of coconut oil but with only 100 calories, as opposed to about 360 calories from the equivalent amount of coconut oil.

The product is currently being studied in a clinical trial of Alzheimer's and coconut/MCT oil versus placebo at the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute at University of South Florida in Tampa.

It is comparable to my idea of mixing coconut oil and MCT oil to reach higher levels of ketones while retaining the many health benefits of coconut oil.  I am giving Steve this mixture several times a day to try to keep ketones available to his brain 24/7.  For that reason I am involved with the company as a scientific advisor.

 

The concept here is that MCT oil is partly converted in the liver to ketones which act in the brain as an alternative fuel to glucose. People who have insulin deficiency or insulin resistance have difficulty getting glucose, the usual primary fuel for the brain and other organs, into the cells and eventually they malfunction and diet. This product would be useful not only for people who suffer from Alzheimer’s, but also, Parkinson’s, ALS, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Huntington’s, and most other conditions where there is insulin resistance or decreased glucose uptake into cells.

New Interview Series - Ketones and Alzheimer's

I had the opportunity to give an interview for Scott Peters of iHealth Tube Video while at a conference where I was speaking. Here are links to the various segments:

#1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFYLtFglXHg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqcxVbVTuXg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfux-5Z4COo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DfZnS4hYBs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkkY4NH8SiU

#6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKshbKPB2gM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSIWqXBh-cA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5npwXlT0ccc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snCIzrzO7_4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAnWX1DQ5-g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0zKamdNaek

#12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkDB6UFnI_0

The 700 Club in the USA and the Daily Mail in London

The 700 Club aired a wonderful follow-up story today about coconut oil and Alzheimer's but this time featuring a man with Parkinson's and another man with ALS (Lou Gehrig's) who have also seen improvement with coconut oil.

Coincidentally, the Daily Mail in London is publishing a story by reporter Jerome Byrne on the subject of Alzheimer's disease and coconut oil on January 8, 2013.  This article will feature Kal Parmar a filmmaker whose father responded to coconut oil rather dramatically.  Mr. Parmar has volunteered to help others in the UK who want further information (kparmar81@gmail.com).

Information about how to use coconut oil is in Diet Guidelines that can be printed from my website at www.coconutketones.com. There are many other materials that can also be printed out there.



The 700 Club story from Jan 7, 2013

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2013/January/Alzheimers-Doctors-Taking-Note-of-Coconut-Oil-/

Daily Mail Article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2258665/Alzeimers-Can-coconut-oil-ease-Families-whove-given-loved-ones-swear-it.html

The 700 Club - Upcoming Shows on Coconut Oil, Ketogenic Diets and Diseases

On Thursday morning, November 29, 2012, The 700 Club on CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) will begin a series of three stories from health reporter Lorie Johnson that relate to the use of ketones as an alternative fuel to treat disease.  The original story on The 700 Club can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOR-Qd3QSg.

The first story will feature Dr. Vince Tedone, a retired orthopedic surgeon, and his daughter Deanna in Tampa, Florida, USA who have developed what he calls "The Deanna Protocol" for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).  His daughter, Deanna, who is in her mid thirties has responded well (improvement and then minimal deterioration over a year) to taking an over the counter supplement called alpha-ketoglutyrate, 18 to 20 grams per day.  They are also massaging her with coconut oil and she is taking some coconut oil at present.  Alpha-ketoglutyrate is several metabolic steps down the pathway in the Kreb's cycle from where ketones enter the cycle.  Another man with ALS who has responded very well is also featured in this story.  Dr. Tedone has a website www.winningthefight.net where more information can be found about The Deanna Protocol.

The second story will feature Dr. Dominic D'Agostino, a researcher at University of South Florida in Tampa who is working with Dr. Tom Seyfried of Boston College to study the use of ketogenic diets, ketone esters alone and in combination with hyperbaric oxygen, and other substances that lower blood sugar to treat cancers (he also is involved with studies of ketones and Alzheimer's, ALS, wound healing, oxygen toxicity and epilepsy).  The concept here is that nearly all cancers require glucose, or the amino acid glutamine to make glucose, to survive and cannot use ketones, however normal cells can use ketones.  Potentially, if a person undertakes a strict ketogenic diet and calories are also restricted to reduce the blood sugar as much as possible, the tumor will shrink over a matter of weeks and metastases may outright die, while the brain and other normal tissues survive.   A large tumor, therefore, could become smaller and more amenable to surgery. This dietary approach can be used in conjunction with other treatments and can be enhanced by starting with a period of fasting (water is still consumed to avoid dehydration, and other supplements can be taken to ensure adwquate electrolytes, minerals and vitamins, for example, are provided).  They have had considerable success with animals and some people have now tested this strategy with success.  Hopefully, more organized studies will follow quickly.

The third story will be a follow-up to our story on coconut oil and Alzheimer's that aired on The 700 Club on January 5, 2012.  This story will feature Butch Machlan, a man with familial ALS (Lou Gehrig's) who has been stable for three years taking 9 tablespoons per day of coconut oil and magnesium chloride, and will also feature a man from Connecticut with Parkinson's who has had considerable improvement since shortly after the first story aired, taking a mixture of coconut oil and MCT oil (new product coming out Fuel for Thought from www.cognatenutritionals.com).


I am thrilled that Lorie Johnson and the Reverend Pat Robertson of The 700 Club have picked up the gauntlet to help spread this important message about ketones.

When I have specific dates for the second and third stories, I will add them to this post.

Diet and Recovery

 

 

I received this in an email from Dexter who has been sending interesting information to me.  This is an 18 minute long video in which the speaker, a physician, relays her recovery from disabling multiple sclerosis (MS) to walking without a cane within three months and riding her bike eighteen miles within 9 months.  Prior to changing her diet she had taken advantage of the best medical care available but continued to deteriorate. 

 

Like Alzheimer's, MS is a disease that involves defective mitochondria, so this diet would be very helpful to those suffering from Alzheimer's (and Parkinson's and ALS) as well.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc

 

We have already made a lot of progress toward this type of diet, but after watching this, we will amp up our intake of vegetables.

Medications and Alzheimer's: Akathisia and neuroleptic malignant syndromes

When our loved ones with Alzheimer's have a sudden setback, we have to step back and ask, is this a result of the disease process or is something else going on? It is well known that setbacks often to coincide with urinary tract or other infections and, once treated, we may see improvement again.
It may not always be obvious, however, that our loved one is experiencing a setback as the result of an adverse effect from medication. It may take days, weeks or months for the side effects to appear and we might not make the connection. In this case we may assume that the symptoms we are seeing represent worsening of the disease.  The person’s doctor might not even make the connection.  I know this because we had such an experience with Steve and neither I, his doctor/wife/caregiver, nor his physicians made the connection.  As embarrassing as this is for me, I feel it is important to tell this story to prevent others from going through this same nightmare.

I will begin by saying that Steve has almost fully recovered from what happened, but it has taken several months to get to this point.

Steve was doing quite well throughout December 2011 and into the new year.  Overall he seemed quite stable for the remainder of 2011 after he recovered from the previous medication related fiasco, a reaction to prednisone of more than a year ago.  Our story was taped in mid-December for “The 700 Club” (www.cbn.com), which can be viewed on my website at www.coconutketones.com.  The story aired in January but shortly after we saw the first signs of trouble when he broke out in a dripping sweat for no apparent reason and then he began to spend more and more time each day in constant agitated pacing, anxiety, constant talking, and confusion.  He had a runny nose and broke out with a fever blister, which had not occurred for more than a year, so I initially attributed these changes to infection.

He developed problems sleeping (constant chatter and getting up). One night he woke up in a night terror and was so confused that he ended up in the hospital where he was treated by his primary geriatrics doctor and a psychiatrist with Ativan, Haldol, and Zyprexa, and eventually Abilify. In the hospital he gradually developed extreme symptoms with episodes of massive sweating, severe tremor, anxiety, low grade fever and diarrhea. Upon reviewing his medical records, I learned that he did not receive his Alzheimer's medication Exelon on many occasions.  As I became suspicious that he was experiencing some type of toxic reaction rather than infection, and researched the medications he was receiving, I learned that all of these drugs carry warnings against use in people who are elderly, and also those who have dementia or Parkinson’s.    

But what started all of this?  In mid-December, he began to see a new doctor who specializes in geriatrics and has many Alzheimer’s patients.  I mentioned that Steve would occasionally have a problem getting in bed and going to sleep and he prescribed a very small dose of valium for the evening to help him relax. I should know better by now to research any new medication that is prescribed (or even available over the counter) for Steve, but I am guilty of going along with this.  I now know that valium is also on the list of drugs that are not recommended for people who are elderly, because it has a longer half-life as we get older, and it is also not recommended for people with dementia or Parkinson’s disease. It was nearly four weeks before he began to have the first sign of excessive sweating. I have read that it can take as long as three months for side effects to occur.

There is a name for the problem that we were seeing at home – akathisia, or the inability to sit still.  People with this condition have trouble remaining seated even when exhausted and often experience anxiety and confusion as well. While in the hospital, Steve grew worse every day and the man who was spending most of his time up and walking around the house before he entered the hospital, could barely stand now, was stiff and stooped over from weakness, and had a severe tremor.  Several times a day he would become drenched with sweat.  I believe he was developing an even more serious reaction called neuroleptic malignant syndrome that is most commonly caused by Haldol. This syndrome carries a 10-20% mortality. All of the above drugs mentioned (except Exelon) are on the list of drugs that can cause this syndrome.  The Haldol was ordered to be given PRN, or “as needed”.  I discussed my belief with the nursing and physician staff that the new symptoms we were seeing were related to Haldol, but they gave it to him anyway at night when I was not there to prevent it.  In other words, Steve was being treated for side effects of Haldol with more Haldol. 

 decided to ask for his discharge since he was getting worse, not better in the hospital.  The staff discouraged me from taking him home, because they did not believe I could care for him there, but we did anyway.  I felt that if he could become so ill while admitted to the relatively high level of care that a hospital provides, it was very likely he would continue to get worse in a rehabilitation facility. With the help of my daughter Joanna, her fiancé, our helper/friends Sybil, Nemuel and Joe, and after several very difficult weeks with little sleep, we saw steady improvement as the drugs left his system.  He is now sleeping very well, no longer pacing or sweating, back to walking much of the day, as is his custom, back to joking with us; the severe tremor is gone and his anxiety is substantially gone.

I have read that the levels of Haldol in the brain can be twenty times greater than the level in the bloodstream.  It can take forty days or longer for the Haldol to exit the brain completely.  Valium also has a long half-life and can accumulate in the body and brain.  Some people will then experience a paradoxical reaction, the opposite of the intended effect.  Risperidone, and other anti-psychotic drugs, SSRI type anti-depressants, anti-emetics such as Compazine and Reglan, and amphetamines and other stimulants, can cause the syndrome of akathisia.  They can also worsen symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

It is common when people with Alzheimer’s enter assisted living facilities for them to deteriorate rather quickly thereafter. I wonder how often this deterioration is a direct result of drugs they are given to control their behavior, such as Haldol and risperidone, and not due to the disease itself?

My Book

I am very pleased to announce that my book is now available. The title is Alzheimer's Disease: What If There Was a Cure? The Story of Ketones. The book contains three parts: Our story; the science of ketones; and how to incorporate medium chain fatty acids into the diet.

To order, you can call the publisher directly at 1-800-575-8890, or you can order at a discount through www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com. There will also be electronic versions available soon.

Parkinson's ketone ester study - Oxford, England

Dr. Veech's ketone ester study for Parkinson's disease is now enrolling in Oxford, England, under the direction of Dr. Wesley Thevathasan at John Radcliffe Hospital. This is a short term study and twenty patients will be able to participate. The ketone ester previously passed human toxicity testing through the USAs FDA.

To learn more about this please look at www.clinicaltrials.gov and do a search for "parkinson's and ketone ester" or enter the trial identifier "NCT01364545".

Dr. Suzanne de la Monte and Dr. Oz Show: Nitrites and nitrates in food may cause Alzheimer's

On April 7, 2011, a former surgeon general and Dr. Suzanne de la Monte appeared on the Dr. Oz Show entitled, "A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Alzheimer's Disease," (can be watched on his website) where she presented her important research. She is the doctor who coined the term "type 3 diabetes" in reference to Alzheimer's disease.She found by accident that giving a nitrosamine compound called streptozotocin, used to deliberately produce diabetes, caused Alzheimer's in her lab mice. She learned that the brain produces its own insulin. She further found that this compound causes production of toxic lipids in the liver that cross the blood brain barrier and damage certain cells such that the brain develops insulin deficiency and insulin resistance. Nitrites and nitrates, found in very many processed foods, are nitrosamine compounds and could very well explain the epidemics of Alzheimer's, autism, diabetes, MS, Parkinson's and ALS, along with other neurodegenerative diseases that have insulin resistance, decreased glucose uptake as part of the process. These diseases have all been on the increase as processed foods have taken over our diets. I will add Dr. de la Monte's references to the website http://www.coconutketones.com/, in the very near future. These nitrites and nitrates are in most bacon, ham and other meats, deli meats, whether pre-packaged or cut at the counter, processed cheeses, cereals, breads, pretzels, crackers, white flour and anything that contains white flour, certain beers, scotch and some other whiskeys. Now something that has caught my attention for newborns and children: I found one of these offending compounds, thiamine mononitrate, in the Carnation infant formulas, some of the jarred baby foods, especially the junior combinations, cereals and other infant prepared foods such as macaroni and cheese. The government requires that certain vitamins such as thiamine are added to enrich foods that have been stripped of these nutrients by processing, most notably white flour and other grains. Thiamine mononitrate is a synthetic source of vitamin B1, rather than a naturally occurring vitamin, and is added to very many foods. Just look at the ingredients labels. Most people eat something with thiamine mononitrate in it for nearly every meal. Naturally occurring Vitamin B1 (thiamine) is usually water soluble, meaning that if you eat an excess of it, you will pass it out in the urine; however, thiamine mononitrate is fat soluble and the excess accumulates in the liver and fat cells. The FDA regulations (21 CFR 184.1878) say that thiamine mononitrate may be used in food "with no limitation other than good manufacturing practice" and that it "may be used in infant formula". These compounds could slowly kill off insulin producing cells in the brain and other organs, and when enough cells have been effected symptoms will begin to emerge. This could explain the classic development of autism in children at 1 1/2 to 2 years of age who were previously thought to be normal. And in Alzheimers' it is believed that the disease process begins at least 10-20 years before symptoms appear. Animal studies need to be done to determine if thiamine mononitrate produces Alzheimer's disease, autism, type 2 diabetes and the other diseases mentioned above. In the meantime, it would behoove us to read the labels and eliminate anything from the diet that includes nitrosamines, nitrites, nitrates; look for these words alone or in combination with other words, such as thiamine mononitrate. What is left for us to eat? Stay away from packaged and other processed foods and eat whole foods: organic whenever possible, vegetables, fruits, eggs, dairy, goat milk and cheeses, nuts, legumes, whole grains (without added nitrates) grass fed beef, free range chicken, "natural" deli meats that have nothing added (they can be frozen to prolong use). I thought we were adhering very closely to a whole food diet until learning that many of the foods we were eating, such as deli meats and some "whole grain" breads and cereals, contain nitrites or nitrates. this could explain some of the deterioration we have seen in spite of everything else we are doing. Most important to our newest generation, mothers can avoid this problem by breastfeeding their babies for as long as possible. Nitrites and nitrates are just one group of compounds we need to worry about for our newborns and toddlers. Also, consuming foods with medium chain fatty acids, such as coconut oil and MCT oil, can at least partly bypass the problem of insulin resistance by providing an alternative fuel to glucose for brain cells. And how could this possibly be related to the herpes simplex issue that I have written about? I found a 1977 article from the lab of Dr. George Cahill, Jr. ("Studies of Streptozotocin-induced insulitis and diabetes", Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 74(6): 2485-2489, June 1977), in which he used streptozotocin to produce diabetes in mice by destroying the beta cells of the pancreas-- an unexpected finding was an increased production of a type C virus in the beta cells that survived. Could it be that the virus is involved as part of the process that destroys the cell after exposure to nitrosamines, or is an opportunistic infection that takes over the damaged cells, which further complicates the Alzheimer’s disease process? The bottom line is to avoid any foods that contain nitrites or nitrates or any ingredient in which one of the words appears.

Dr. Veech needs an angel

Coconut oil and MCT oil provide relatively low levels of ketosis, however, the ketone ester made and studied in the lab of Dr. Richard Veech can provide levels at least 10 times as high. As noted in the article that is the subject of my previous post, the amount of energy provided to the brain is directly proportional to the level of ketones in the blood. Thus his ketone ester could provide as much as 60% of the brain's energy requirement compared to perhaps 5-10% by MCT oil/coconut oil.

There have been more than 700,000 hits on my website www.coconutketones.com. I am pleased that very many people now know that ketones may provide an alternative fuel to glucose in the brain for people with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. There must be someone out there who can help provide funding for continuation of Dr. Veech's very important work. He has only enough funding from the NIH to continue the research in his lab and production of the ketone ester until June 2011. He is in need of a charitable or government source of funding to continue just this basic work. He wishes to perform a pilot study of Parkinson's and the ketone ester. This would be a 28 day study. He lacks funding to even begin this short term study. Thereafter, he wishes to study Alzheimer's and this would require $10 to 15 million to manufacture enough ketone ester and fund the clinical trial. Alzheimer's is so complex and symptoms so variable from person to person, as compared to Parkinson's, that a two year study would be required to determine that the ester is effective.

Update about Steve, Greece, the ketone ester, IVIG

I have been delinquent in keeping up with this blog the past few months and must apologize. There are not enough hours in the day!

Our trip to Greece was quite an adventure - our younger 24 year old daughter Joanna came with us to stay with Steve while I attended some of the meetings at the conference. My presentation went very well and was well received. There were researchers and doctors from around the world, so I am hopeful this will get the message out to many more. Steve held up amazingly well. I took him by the hand when getting off and on public transportation to make sure we didn't lose each other. We got to see some wonderful sites in Athens, London and NYC, but in the end we were all very happy to be home.

This May 21 will mark two years since Steve started taking coconut oil. He had many improvements, some immediate and others more gradual that became obvious over several months or even longer. In many respects he is still doing better than two or even three years ago. None of the physical symptoms or visual disturbance have returned. His has retained many memories of events that have taken place in the last year or longer. He continues to volunteer in the warehouse at the hospital where I work, putting stickers on supplies and moving boxes. He has also gotten his riding lawn mower out recently several times to cut the grass and had no trouble working it. For those who don't know, there are several controls that need to be operated simultaneously to get it running. There is no need to cut grass in our area from November to March, so I was biting my nails wondering whether he would remember how to operate the tractor this year and, alas, he does. On the other hand, we have seen some new problems since the last update. He has had setbacks when he has an illness, with more confusion. This has been most obvious to me when he has a fever blister. I always worry that "this is it," but he manages to bounce back, although not always completely. He has developed a problem in recent months at times with understanding the relationship of where we live to where the rest of his family lives. Usually after I explain this to him, he gets it. I do believe that overall, the use of coconut oil/MCT oil has taken us back in time at least two years and in many respects even longer. I don't know if we will beat it, but we have at least gotten a reprieve from this disease.

A pilot study for Parkinson's disease, using Dr. Veech's ketone ester, will soon begin. since the symptoms of this disease are more consistent from person to person and many are measurable physicla symptoms, he believes they will be able to know within one month if the ketone ester is effective. Clinical trials for Alzheimer's typically last 12-18 months or longer, due to the nature of the disease. We can be hopeful that if the results of the Parkinson's study are positive that more funding will be forthcoming for producing and studying the ketone ester.

Another promising treatment is IVIG (Gammagard and other brands). A pilot study for Gammagard was recently completed showing that there was no worsening of brain scans and there was improved mental function in people with AD over an 18 month period. IVIG has been used for people with immune deficiency for decades. It is pooled antibodies to many different types of infection from 100s of people and is given intravenously usually every two weeks. The company believes that it works by removing beta-amyloid plaque. Another possibility is that it controls a chronic or recurrent infection in the brain, such as the herpes simplex virus type 1 that causes fever blisters - work has been done by Dr. Ruth Itzhaki and others in England showing that this virus is present in the brains, and even within all of the beta-amyloid plaques they have looked at, of people with Alzheimer's who are APOE4+. The virus has also been shown to cause this plaque and also the classic tangles to form. For those who want to screen for the study look at www.clinicaltrials.gov and so a search for Alzheimer's and IVIG. There will be a list of centers who are recruiting now for the IVIG clinical trials.

Direct link to 6 part interview series

Instead of going to YouTube, the six part series of Steve and I with Ken Lightburn can now be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iScs0uzQZFk