This page offers the references for the information mentioned in the You must be nuts! prequel.
You must be nuts! – the prequel
Alph – “Did you see that article by a cardiologist in the British Medical Journal?”
On 22 October 2013, the British Medical Journal published an ‘observations’ article entitled ‘Saturated fat is not the major issue’ by Dr Aseem Malhotra, interventional cardiology specialist registrar, Croydon University Hospital, London. The subtitle of the article was ‘Let’s bust the myth of its role in heart disease’.
BMJ press release – Observations: Saturated fat is not the major issue
BBC News – Saturated fat heart disease ‘myth’
Chah-Lee – “The UK Government was getting [food manufacturers] to cut the saturated fat in the food they produce.”
On 26 October 2013, the UK Government’s Department of Health announced that it had invited the food manufacturing and retail industry to sign a pledge to reduce the amount of saturated fat in products.
BBC News – Obesity: Retailers to cut saturated fat levels
BBC News – Saturated fat pledge ‘a drop in the ocean’
BBC News – Fat pledge by food makers defended by minister
Guardian – Saturated fat to be cut in chocolate products, makers pledge
Alph: “There’s a lot of contradictory [dietary] advice around.”
Barbara Berkeley, MD – You say yes, I say no: Contradictory diet advice and how to cope
Daily Mail – Everything you think you know about healthy eating is wrong!
Diet Doctor – Swedish Expert Committee: A low carb diet is most effective for weight loss
Wales Online – Zoë Harcombe dishes the skinny on diet myths and five golden rules of weight loss
Alph: “What we eat also affects other major illnesses, like dementia and diabetes.”
PubMed – Relative intake of macronutrients impacts risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia
Forbes – What grain is doing to your brain
Examiner – Low carb, ketogenic diet prevents Alzheimer’s and ADHD, says Dr David Perlmutter
Zoë Harcombe – Why are diabetics being told to eat what made them diabetic?
Why people are trying coconut oil to treat Alzheimer’s/dementia
CBN video news story from January 2012 about Dr Mary Newport giving coconut oil to her husband Steve, after he was diagnosed with severe Alzheimer’s:
Dr Mary Newport’s blog
Dr Mary Newport’s Coconut ketones website
Dr Mary Newport’s book Alzheimer’s disease: what if there was a cure?
Dr Mary Newport’s article What if there was a cure for Alzheimer’s and no one knew?
Daily Mail article: Can coconut oil ease Alzheimer’s? Families who’ve given it to loved ones swear by it
Follow-up CBN video news story from January 2013:
Kal Parmar’s Remember Coconut website
Obhi’s blog post Coconut oil – after the cataclysm?
Alzheimer’s/dementia
The are a number of different types of dementia, of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common.
There are essentially three stages of Alzheimer’s disease, which involves changes in the brain which may begin 10-20 years before the symptoms appear.
What type of coconut oil to use
There are different types of coconut oil. The type found in Western health food shops or by mail order is virgin coconut oil. It’s solid and white below around 30C. Indian shops also tend to have a refined coconut oil which is suitable for cooking in – just make sure that it hasn’t been refined using hexane or hydrogenation.
There are different mail order sources, depending on where you live:
– UK/Europe: Coconoil
– India: Excel combine
Please help us to expand this list.
How much coconut oil do you need?
According to Dr Bruce Fife’s article Conquering Alzheimer’s with coconut ketones, “The simple of act of adding coconut oil into the diet can both prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease. For treatment purposes a total of 5 tablespoons (74 ml) a day taken with meals is recommended. Add a portion of the coconut oil to each of the three meals consumed during the day. For prevention, take 2-3 tablespoons (30-44 ml) daily.”
Other factors
Low carbohydrate diet
Dr Fife insists that coconut oil would need to be combined with a low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet. His book Stop Alzheimer’s now! goes on to claim that this would prevent and reverse not only dementia but also Parkinson’s, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, and other neurodegenerative disorders. You’ll need to read the book for all the details and the well-referenced reasons Dr Fife provides.
Dr Murray Waldman, a Canadian Alzheimer’s specialist, has suggested that the rise of Alzheimer’s could be due to the low fat fad.
Keep medication to a minimum
Many older people are prescribed statin drugs to lower cholesterol. However, statins may cause cognitive impairment and are sold in the US with a warning that they may lead to memory loss. In 2009, Dr Stephanie Seneff, Senior Research Scientist at MIT, co-wrote a paper on APOE-4: the clue to why a low fat diet and statins may cause Alzheimer’s.
Many older people are also prescribed aspirin as a preventative measure against heart disease, together with a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drug to limit the damage to the lining of the stomach wall caused by the aspirin. Recent studies have suggested that taking aspirin as a preventive measure may do more harm than good. Prescribing a on a long-term basis may also have severe side effects, as the US consumer group warned the US Food & Drug Administration in 2011. One of those side effects is the creation of excess acid if the PPI is stopped. A way out apparently involves focusing on alkaline foods – here’s why.