High-fat diets, especially ones that include the MCTs found in coconut oil, can delay brain aging. Benefits of Virgin Coconut oil in cognitive growth possesses antioxidant properties that are important for maintaining a healthy brain.
Free radicals are unattach oxygen molecules that damage cells and hasten their demise. Every cell in your body is affect by free radical or oxidative damage, but brain cells are particularly vulnerable because they use a disproportionate amount of oxygen.
Virgin Coconut oil is extract from coconuts, but you can see it’s different from other plant oils as it is a white solid at room temperature. That’s because it’s mostly (90%) saturate fat. You may have heard that saturated fats are bad for your health, but recent research has been showing that we may have been wrong about the dangers of saturated fats all along. Not only that, but virgin coconut oil contains a special kind of saturated fat.
In fact, most (65%) of the fat in virgin coconut oil is a mix of different “medium-chain triglycerides” (MCTs). This is not the same kind of saturated fat you find in dairy and conventional meats. Virgin Coconut oil’s medium-length chains are easily absorb and go straight to the liver where, unlike other fats, they’re quickly metabolise into energy as special molecules called “ketones.” Ketones can be a great brain fuel, and have been shown to help with several brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy. Here is another possible use of Virgin coconut oil for the brain, again because of its metabolism into ketones.
Ketogenic Diet
Several decade ago, a “ketogenic diet” was successfully used to reduce seizure in some children with epilepsy, and is currently being used to help reduce severity and frequency of paediatric seizure. This diet is a very low carb, very high fat diet.
Because this diet can be difficult to maintain, researchers found that supplementing a “regular” diet with MCTs (from Virgin coconut oil) can help increase the body’s ketones without requiring a full ketogenic diet.
In fact, adding MCT oil to certain people’s diet had mark reduction in the frequency of seizures, and has been shown in several clinical studies to have a similar efficacy as a full ketogenic diet.
Why Your Brain Needs Virgin Coconut Oil
- Of all the organs in your body, your brain especially needs healthy dietary fat.
- The brain is large of fat, 60% by weight.
- Your brain cell membrane integrity depends mostly on the quality of the fats you eat.
- You may have heard that Virgin coconut oil can increase your cholesterol level.
- And that may be a good thing for your brain!
- The brain has a higher cholesterol content than any other organ with about 25% of the body’s cholesterol found in the brain.
- Low cholesterol increases the risk of suicide, depression, and dementia.
- The risk of dementia is reduce by 70% in those with high cholesterol.
How Virgin Coconut Oil Uniquely Feeds the Brain
- Any process relating to the role of fats in the body is complicate.
- The mechanism by which virgin coconut oil uniquely feeds the brain is no exception.
- Here’s a condensed version.
- Most vegetable oils are long-chain triglycerides.
- These are larger molecules that are harder to break down and are more easily store as fat.
- Virgin Coconut oil consists of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) which are smaller and can be uses as a backup source of energy.
- There are few natural sources of MCTs, namely various parts of the virgin coconut (oil, meat, cream, and milk), palm oil, and full-fat dairy products.
- And, as this chart illustrates, virgin coconut oil is the best source of MCTs.
- Your brain is a hungry little organ.
- At just three pounds, it uses 20% of your daily energy input.
- Your brain’s main fuel is glucose, a simple sugar.
- Your brain cells can’t store energy and can live for only a few minutes without it.
- Fortunately, there’s a backup energy system for times when you can’t get enough energy from glucose.
- Your liver can break down stored fat to produce ketones that can be used as a substitute fuel during times of starvation.
- But you don’t have to starve to access ketones as a source of brain energy.
- The MCTs in virgin coconut oil can do the job.
- They’re broken down into ketones by the liver and readily cross the blood-brain barrier to provide instant energy to brain cells.
Benefits of Virgin coconut oil in cognitive growth
Some Reference: https://www.alzheimers.net/2013-05-29/coconut-oil-for-alzheimers/