Almost twenty years ago, Roger, a 70-year-old retired computer programmer, came for a consultation, accompanied by his wife who did most of the talking. She reported Roger had begun to have moments of confusion and disorientation and even got lost driving home from work, a route he had driven hundreds of times.

I did a detailed neurological exam, including a mini-mental status exam. Roger was unable to do simple calculations in his head and could not remember the three objects I named and then asked him to repeat after five minutes. He was visibly agitated during the testing.

I ordered comprehensive blood work and an MRI scan of the brain.

The results of the scan showed definite signs of atrophy, especially in the area of the hippocampal lobe, the part of the brain that processes new information and is involved with memory storage and retrieval.

The drugs available for dementia offer little noticeable improvement, if any.

So I recommended Roger take daily Omega 3 fish oils and sublingual B-12 for his brain health. I discussed with his wife ways to improve his diet including eliminating alcohol, all sugars and refined foods, and recommended he include plant-based fats with every meal for a healthy brain. I urged him to get regular exercise, including exercises for the brain, like crossword puzzles.

A few months after Roger’s consultation, I stumbled upon research that investigated if coconut oil could arrest the progression of dementia and other degenerative diseases of the brain. The results looked promising. It was a pleasant surprise—and a bit hard to believe—that something so simple as coconut oil from the kitchen pantry could have such notable protective effects on the brain.

Coconut oil is a saturated fat that contains no cholesterol and no trans fats (the ‘bad” fats). The early studies of coconut oil used hydrogenated coconut oil. Hydrogenated oils are trans fats—like margarine—that can lead to heart disease. Hydrogenated oils have undergone a chemical process that adds a hydrogen molecule, making the oil solid at room temperature. Coconut oil is usually solid already at room temperature since it’s a saturated fat, but the hydrogenation raises the threshold at which it turns to liquid. When the cell membrane takes up the hydrogenated oil, it makes the cell membrane stiff, unable to function properly with cell-to-cell communication.

Unfortunately, there is still a lingering misconception that coconut oil “clogs the arteries.” In reality, studies have shown that non-hydrogenated coconut oil can actually improve the total cholesterol to HDL ratio, among its many other benefits.

Coconut oil is a medium chain fatty acid. The word “medium chain” refers to the way the carbon atoms are arranged. Medium chain fats, like coconut oil, are very easy to digest, much like breast milk.

Coconut oil is digested differently than other fats. Instead of storing all the oil as fat, the liver converts the oil directly to ketones that are then available to use as energy.

Ketones are acids that are made when the body burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates.

The brain is very selective about what fuels it will use for energy. There are only two fuels the brain uses for fuel— glucose and ketones.

When no glucose is readily available, the liver produces ketones from fatty acids. This condition can be found during times of fasting, or also on low carbohydrate diets, such as the paleo diet.

The ketones appear to protect neurons in the brain when glucose is not available. In fact, research has shown that ketones have the potential to not only treat, but also play a role in preventing dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders of the brain, such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and seizure disorders.

Roger and his wife came back to hear about what I had discovered from my research about the benefits of non-hydrogenated coconut oil. They were excited to try out the coconut oil right away.

In the studies, two to four tablespoons a day, on average, were used. We talked about starting with just one teaspoon and working up to the full dose over several days. Roger could choose how he wanted to eat the coconut oil. If he didn’t want to take it straight from a spoon, he could cook with it, or mix it in with his morning oatmeal or smoothie. Some people like to put it in their morning coffee.

At their two-week follow up appointment, Roger’s wife said she noticed Roger was more alert after Roger worked up to two tablespoons of coconut oil twice a day. The episodes of confusion and short-term memory loss disappeared over a few weeks’ time.

The real test was the mini-mental status exam. This time Roger showed no signs of anxiety and aced the test.

I saw Roger a few more times for follow up over the next couple of years to make sure he continued to do well. The last time I heard from Roger was ten years ago when he was 80. He continued to do well with his cognitive function intact, in spite of his advanced age.

Over the past ten years, I have had over a dozen patients tell me they think the coconut oil is helping to improve their memory.

So, what’s the take home message for protecting your brain from degeneration? In addition to the items mentioned in Part I, here are a few more suggestions:

1) Consider adding organic, non-hydrogenated coconut oil to your diet, two to four tablespoons a day, ingested any way you prefer. Coconut oil is metabolized into ketones which protect the neurons in your brain.

2) Limit sugars—including fruit sugars—and simple carbohydrates, like milled grains. Milled grains are whole grains that have been sent to a factory where the grain is processed and turned into bread, pasta, crackers, cookies, tortillas, chips, cous cous, tabouli and oatmeal (the whole oat grain is called oat groats and looks like rice).

Milled grains turn to sugar quickly. In fact, as soon as the milled grain is chewed and mixed with saliva in the mouth, it has already turned into a simple sugar. That’s why it’s so hard to give up milled grains. It’s a quick sugar fix.

If you’re not able to give up grains altogether, stick to complex carbohydrates which, with a simplified definition, means eating starchy foods before they’ve been sent to a factory to be processed—like brown rice, millet, quinoa and buckwheat.

Sugars and simple carbohydrates tend to cause inflammation and degeneration and increase the risk of chronic diseases, including cancer.

The ideal diet for creating ketones, which protect the neurons in the brain, is mostly a plant-based diet, that includes protein and plant-based fat with every meal. The meat needs to be 100% grass-fed. If you burn fat and not sugar, ketones will be made.

3) If you sauté your food, use the coconut oil because it is saturated. Saturated oils withstand the heat far better than unsaturated vegetable oils.

4) If you are not a meat eater and you cannot tolerate a high fat, low carb diet, then consider intermittent 24-hour fasting. When you eat nothing, your body will burn the fat stores, which in turn will produce ketones to fuel your brain.

If you are allergic to coconuts, you can use intermittent fasting or eat a low carbohydrate diet to get the neuro-protective effects of ketones for brain health.

Stay tuned for Part III—more information about reversible dementia.