brain. coconut oil

brain. coconut oil /oss/taxonomy/term/1228/all en Thinking About Coconut Oil /oss/article/controversial-science-health/thinking-about-coconut-oil Think about this. What has no mass, doesn’t occupy space, has no mobility, cannot be touched and yet exists? A thought! And what a mysterious thing it is! Just about all we know for sure is that it is created in the brain and that there is an energy requirement to generate it. Whenever we think, the brain “burns” more glucose, which is its main fuel supply. It stands to reason that any sort of inhibition of this glucose metabolism can have a profound effect on brain function. We know, for example, that a rapid drop in blood glucose, as can be precipitated by an overdose of insulin, quickly causes a deterioration in cognitive performance. This is because so much glucose is absorbed by muscle cells that little is left for the brain. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by a progressive decline in the rate of glucose metabolism in the brain. This impaired use of glucose is paralleled by a decline in scores on cognitive tests. Exactly why glucose use is affected in Alzheimer’s is not clear. It may be a function of the buildup of “amyloid” protein deposits that are the hallmark of the disease, although it is also possible that the deposits are not the cause, but the result of impaired metabolism. In any case, improving the brain’s ability to generate energy in the face of low glucose metabolism seems a worthy avenue to explore. The most obvious approach would be to supplement the diet with glucose and provide sufficient insulin for its absorption into cells. But insulin cannot easily be delivered specifically to the brain and its systemic administration can cause problems in other tissues. So is there another option? A clue can be found in studies of people who are experiencing starvation. When there is a lack of glucose available from the diet, the body tries to meet the brain’s demand for energy by tapping its abundant stores of body fat. Fat, however, cannot be used directly as fuel, it first has to be converted to smaller molecules called “ketone bodies.” The buildup of these in the bloodstream results in “ketosis,” a condition that is not encountered when there is an adequate intake of carbohydrates, the source of glucose. It can, however, occur in diabetes when an insulin shortage prevents glucose absorption into cells which then have to resort to the use of ketone bodies to supply energy. That’s why acetone, a “ketone body,” appears in the breath of diabetics who fail to administer their insulin properly. Ketosis can also be encountered when low carbohydrate regimens such as the Atkins diet are followed. It is the breakdown of fat to yield ketone bodies that results in weight loss. <a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2013/10/10/thinking-about-coconut-oil">Read more</a> Fri, 11 Oct 2013 01:06:44 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2019 at /oss