Mary Newport - Medium Chain Triglycerides and Ketones: An Alternative Fuel for Alzheimer's

Summary: Plaques and tangles are known to be hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, but another important aspect of Alzheimer's is that it may be a type of diabetes of the brain or "type 3 diabetes," and is associated with decreased glucose uptake in the brain. Diabetes of the brain develops gradually over at least one to two decades before symptoms become obvious. Other neurodegenerative diseases share the problem of decreased glucose uptake in the brain. Fortunately, the brain can use ketone bodies as an alternative fuel to glucose during starvation. Ketogenic diets have been successfully used for nearly a century to treat drug resistant epilepsy in children. Medium chain fatty acids are partly converted in the liver to ketones bodies, which readily cross the blood brain barrier and are used by the brain. Mild ketosis from consuming MCT oil has been shown to produce cognitive improvement in nearly half of people with Alzheimer's. Ketone esters that will produce higher levels of ketosis and potentially greater improvement are on the horizon. Mary T. Newport, M.D. grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, received an Honors Bachelor of Arts degree from Xavier University and graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1978. She trained in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, and in Neonatology, the care of sick and premature newborns, at the Medical University Hospital in Charleston, SC. She has provided care to newborns in Florida since 1983 and is the founding medical director of the newborn intensive care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital, practicing there as a member of the All Children's/John Hopkins Specialty Physicians group. She previously served as medical director at Mease Hospital Dunedin, after founding the NICU there in 1987. Dr. Newport has been married to Steve Newport since 1972 and they have two daughters and a grandson. She is also caregiver for Steve, who suffers from early onset Alzheimer's disease. In July 2008, she wrote an article that has become disseminated world-wide on the internet, "What If There Was a Cure for Alzheimer's Disease and No One Knew?" and is author of a book released in October 2011, (Alzheimer's Disease: What If There Was a Cure?). Her book conveys the story of a dietary intervention that helped her husband and, now, many other people with Alzheimer's and certain neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the science of ketones and how to incorporate medium chain fatty acids into the diet. Dr. Newport has given numerous radio interviews and lectures on this subject.