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[Music]
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I am a neonatologist which is a
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physician that takes care of sick and
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premature newborns but I'm talking about
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Alzheimer's disease tonight because my
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husband of 40
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years Steve has early on set Alzheimer's
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disease um I came upon something on the
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Internet purely by chance to help him
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that gave him a reprieve from the
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disease but it was because of what I do
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for a living that I recognized it when I
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saw
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it whoa geez Steve is a stay-at-home dad
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and he worked for my practice as an
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accountant at home while I pursued my
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career as a
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neonatologist uh at but at age 51 Steve
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began having problems with his
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accounting he began uh making payroll
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mistakes missing tax deadlines and then
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he couldn't remember if he'd been to the
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bank in the post
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office but at first this was attributed
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to depression but by 2004 he continue to
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have problems with his uh making
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accounting mistakes and with memory and
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so he was diagnosed with early onset
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Alzheimer's disease at that point in
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time by 56 years old Steve could no
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longer do do any accounting at all he
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could no longer use a calculator and he
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could not even do simple math we found
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out that he couldn't read a map when he
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was driving home from Tallahassee one
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night and he got lost and ended up on
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the other coast of Florida about 3 hours
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away from home so he had to give up
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driving shortly
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thereafter by age 58 Steve was on a
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downward spiral he had Tremors in his
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hands and in his jaw he could no longer
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read due to a visual disturbance his
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gate was slow and weird and he could no
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longer
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run his personality and sense of humor
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had disappeared and he was much more
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likely to take his lawn tractor apart
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than to cut the grass with
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it and so uh being on a downward spiral
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we were desperate for something to help
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Steve and in the may may of 2008 a
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couple of new drugs became available for
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clinical trials and so he was scheduled
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for screenings on two successive days
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and I started thinking the night before
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what if he gets accepted into both
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trials we have to pick one so I began to
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look for the RIS and the benefits on the
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internet and um Came Upon a third
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treatment which was for a medical food
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called ac122 at that time and it was
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they claimed that it improved the
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memories and cognition and nearly half
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of people with Alzheimer's who were
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given this but it didn't say what it was
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or what it did so I found their patent
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application online and there in was a
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beautifully written description of an
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aspect of Alzheimer's disease that I was
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not familiar with that is a type of
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Diabetes of the brain a group at Brown
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University in 2005 reported that when
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they looked at the brains of people who
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had died with Alzheimer's that did not
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have type 1 or type 2 diabetes that they
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found insulin resistance and Insulin
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deficiency in all of these brains and
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they coined the term type 3 diabetes to
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indicate Alzheimer's dis
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disease they further reported in
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2008 that this happened in the earli
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stages of the disease and it became more
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severe and more widespread with each
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subsequent stage of the disease until it
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was throughout the
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brain other researchers have reported
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that uh this may occur 10 to 20 years
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before symptoms even begin to appear and
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someone who is at risk for this
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disease so with this means is that since
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glucose is the preferred and primary
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fuel for the brain and other organs that
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um without insulin glucose cannot get
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into cells so the cells begin to
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malfunction and die the neurons in the
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brain and then over time you begin to
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see symptoms but glucose is not the only
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fuel that the brain can use when we go
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into starvation within 36 or 48 hours we
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use up the glucose that is stored in our
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body and we begin to break down fat and
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part of that fat is converted to Ketone
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bodies in the liver and Ketone bodies
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can serve as an alternative fuel for
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brain cells and for other organs and so
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here is an idea that use of an
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alternative fuel could bypass the
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problem of insulin resistance and
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Insulin deficiency in the old time or
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brain but you don't have to be in
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Starvation to raise Ketone levels
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another way to do this is with the
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classic ketogenic diet
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and
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um what this diet is a very high fat
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diet and a very low carbohydrate diet
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and it has just enough protein to
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maintain lean body
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mass and has been used successfully for
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more than 90 years in children with drug
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resistant epilepsy it has um actually
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some of these children have no seizures
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at all after having hundreds of seizures
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a day after starting this diet and it's
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been used successfully more recently in
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adults as well there are other forms of
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the ketogenic diet that people are more
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familiar with the Atkins and South Beach
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diets that are used uh for weight
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loss so back to the patent application
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they cited research by Dr Richard Beach
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from the uh National Institutes of
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Health in Rockville Maryland who has
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been studying Ketone Esters to treat
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Alzheimer's disease and other
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neurodegenerative diseases and he had
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found in reported in 2000 that more
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neurons survived in cell cultures when
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they were exposed to substances that
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cause Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease
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when the Ketone body beta hydroxy uate
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was added to the mix and so right around
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that same time in 2000 Dr Samuel
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Henderson had the brilliant Insight that
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another way of getting ketosis mild
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ketosis from consuming medium chain
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triglycerides might be enough to improve
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cognition in people with Alzheimer's
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disease and so he filed a patent
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application for
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ac122 which is simply medium chain
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triglyceride
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oil
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so what happens with medium chain
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triglycerides is when you consume foods
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that contain these they're taken up
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directly from the intestine into the
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liver and part of it is converted to
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ketones and ketones are released into
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the circulation they cross the blood
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brain barrier and they're eagly eagerly
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taken up by brain cells um and provide
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you know the cells with um
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energy so this rang a bell with me
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because I'm a neonatologist we used to
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use medium chain triglyceride oil to
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supplement the feedings of our premature
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newborns in the late '70s and early 80s
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to help them gain weight faster and then
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the formula manufacturers began adding
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it to their infant formulas because they
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were trying to mimic human breast milk
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which has 10 to 177% of the fats as
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medium chain triglycerides if you look
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at any infant formula can today
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virtually every one of them will have
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medium chain triglyceride oil or another
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oil that contains that on the
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label So reading through the patent
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application I learned something else
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that I did not know up to that point
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that medium chain triglyceride oil is
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extracted from coconut oil and I did not
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know at that time that medium chain
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triglyceride oil was available over the
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counter but I did know that I had seen
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coconut oil in the health food
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stores so ac122 had completed Phase 2
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clinical trials and they found that just
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with a single dose of MCT oil and also
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with prolonged use of MCT oil that there
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was improved cognition and memory in
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nearly half the people with Alzheimer's
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that took it and so it was approved by
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the FDA it's a prescription medical food
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in the spring of
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2009 but this was May of 2008 we were
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still a year away from this being
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available so you know obviously this is
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something I wanted to use to try to
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treat my husband if possible I finished
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reading this patent application at about
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1:00 a.m. the night before the screening
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and he was scheduled at a.m. so I didn't
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have time to run out and buy coconut oil
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so we drove to St Petersburg and Steve
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screened for the trial and he scored
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only 14 out of a simple 30o memory test
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and he needed 16 points to qualify for
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the trial so he was not accepted and we
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were very
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disappointed and he was asked to draw a
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clock by the doctor there a simple test
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for
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Alzheimer's and as you can see it was a
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poorly organized clock it doesn't look
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at all like a clock a few little random
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circles and a a few numbers and she told
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me that he was on the verge of severe
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Alzheimer's disease so driving home I
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thought what do we have to lose and we
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uh went out of our way to Tampa and
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picked up some coconut oil at a health
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food store where I knew I had seen it
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and when we got home I got on the
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internet again and I researched
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everything that I could about ketones
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medium chain triglycerides and coconut
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oil and I found the composition of
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coconut oil the fatty acid composition
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and I learned that coconut oil is 60%
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medium chain
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triglycerides so in the ac122 clinical
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trials they had used 20 gram and this
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equated to Seven teaspoons of coconut
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oil so the following morning I gave
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Steve Seven teaspoons of coconut oil
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with his breakfast and we went to the
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bird Institute here at University of
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South Florida and he screened again for
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a clinical trial and this time he scored
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18 out of 30 needing 16 to qualify and
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he in fact did qualify for this clinical
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trial we were elated and at that point I
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didn't know if it was the coconut oil
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prayers or just good luck but we decided
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we were going to keep it going and Steve
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said many times after that that the
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light switch came back on in his spring
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that day so over the next weeks and
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months uh we began mixing MCT oil and
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coconut oil together MCT oil gives
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higher levels but coconut oil longer
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duration of ketones and so we also
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increased to three servings a day and
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eventually before so that he would get
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ketones Around the Clock available to
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his brain and what we saw during the
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first months of coconut oil that his
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personality and sense of humor returned
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he was much less depressed his tremors
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resolved he was able to start walking
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normally again and even start running
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his visual disturbance disappeared and
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he was able to resume activities again
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such as cutting the grass and
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mowing uh vacuuming the house without
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taking the things apart and losing the
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pieces so Steve had drawn a the day
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before he started the coconut oil and
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then he Dro Drew clocks 14 and 37 Days
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Later that were amazingly much more
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organized than before and uh this was
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reflected in other things that we were
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seeing with Steve as
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well during the first two months of
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coconut oil his Min mental status exam
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the 30-point test improved from 12
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points about two weeks before when he
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had screened for a trial to 20 points
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out of 30 about two months after
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starting coconut oil so that's a very
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dramatic Improvement in in the score and
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he did in fact uh enter a clinical trial
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at that point um they decided to let him
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in because this was only a food How
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Could It screw up their
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results so he had U quite a bit of
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cognitive testing during that first year
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and we found out later that he was on
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the placebo during the first 12 to 14
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months of the sty of the study it was a
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crossover trial and what happened with
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Steve was that he actually improved by
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six points on a 75 point scale for a
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cognitive testing and he also improved
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by 14 points out of 78 points on the
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activities of daily living test um other
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people who were on Placebo during that
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year dropped by an average of six points
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on that same cognitive test that Steve
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had been scored
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for he also had an MRI 2 years after
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starting coconut oil that was read as
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stable compared to the previous and he
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had had a dramatic worsening from 2004
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to 2008 on his uh
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MRI so getting back to May of
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2008 by the fifth day Steve's
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personality and his alertness were so
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much improved in a sense of humor that I
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felt like I'd gotten my husband back and
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we said to each
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other uh our life has changed for the
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better so I felt you know since Steve
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had improved so much other people would
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improve too and this is something that's
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on the Shelf now people don't shouldn't
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have to wait for a prescription medical
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food to come out a year from now that
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was already on the Shelf so I began a
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letter writing campaign and I uh sent it
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to many different politicians and media
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people and I you know told them about
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ac122 that she was just one example of
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somebody that had improved that this
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needed desperately needed and urgently
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needed clinical trials but that it was
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available on the Shelf now and people
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could use it if they they would just
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tell everybody about it but I got no uh
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serious response to any of my letters
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and so I put together an article in July
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of 2008 that I intended to distribute at
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the Alzheimer's Association
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International Conference to 5,000
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researchers they have an exhibit hall
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but I was turned down for a table in
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their Exhibit Hall so I began to
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distribute at health food stores and
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online and in the fall of 2008 the St
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Petersburg Times ran a story about Steve
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and I this went viral on the
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internet so thereafter I began to hear
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from other people who had tried coconut
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oil Andor MCT oil and was getting very
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many positive reports I've collected
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almost 250 reports now uh from people
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and about 90% of those are people who
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have had some type of improvement and I
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realized people are less likely to email
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me if they did not have an improvement
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but about two-thirds of these people
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reported some type of memory or
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cognitive Improvement but many other
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reported improvements in quality of life
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recognition of family members again um
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relief from depression improve mood and
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improve behavior and uh relief from
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physical symptoms you know those kinds
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of things and some of those are very
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hard to measure on on
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tests so many months were spent writing
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a book to try to get this message out
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about ketones as an alternative to fuel
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for the brain that this can be achieved
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through food that Ketone esters are in
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development and that they urgently need
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to have clinical testing of both coconut
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oil and Ketone Esters and one of the
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main critiques of my book was that this
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idea needs clinical
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trials well my answer to that is well
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that was the whole point of writing my
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book without awareness of this kind of
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idea how would clinical trials for
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coconut oil ever get
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done
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so keto estros are now in development at
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the National Institutes of Health and
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also here at the University of South
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Florida Ketone Esters can raise Ketone
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levels many times higher than what you
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can achieve with large amounts of
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coconut oil and MCT
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oil there was a recent study that was
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published from the NIH by Dr Richard
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beach again and this time they used
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Ketone Esther beta hydroxy butyrate in
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an Mouse model of Alzheimer's disease
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and they found that there was reduced
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plaque and Tangle which are two
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Hallmarks of the disease in the brain
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and these mice and also improved memory
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and learning so very exciting uh
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information and I'm also pleased to say
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that the University of South Florida the
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bird Alzheimer Institute is beginning a
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study very soon of coconut oil and MCT
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oil and people with mild cognitive
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impairment to see if it will help
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relieve symptoms and also prevent
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progression to Alzheimer's disease and
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just down the road here at another Lab
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at you University of South Florida they
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are studying ketogenic diets with
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including medium chain Tri triglycerides
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and Ketone Esters in animals right now
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to study oxygen toxicity Alzheimer's
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epilepsy lugaris disease which is ALS
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cancer and wound healing they may very
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well have some very exciting and
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promising results are coming out of this
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and and um they may very well be the
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ones to find a cure for cancer in this
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lab so if you or anyone that you know or
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love has Alzheimer's disease or another
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condition that involves decreased
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glucose uptake into the brain or if
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you're at risk for one of these disease
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consumptions of medium chain
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triglycerides on a daily basis could
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possibly bring about some improvement a
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reprieve from the disease
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um but while we are waiting for these
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clinical trials to be done you know for
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Ketone Esters you can consume medium
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chain triglycerides in your diet they
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are not available in the T typical oils
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that we eat in our American diet and
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that includes all oil and fish oil but
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they are
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available in MCT oil coconut oil palm
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kernel oil and in the milk fat of humans
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goats and cows so if you're eating a
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typical American diet and you're
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consuming fat-free milk you're getting
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virtually no medium chain triglyceride
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in your
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diet so medium chain triglycerides are
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just food they're available on the shelf
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and what do you have to lose
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[Applause]
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[Music]
