[troutman]

Can Coconut Oil Reverse Alzheimer’s Disease?

http://www.skepticnorth.com/2012/02/...0%99s-disease/

What about the evidence? I’d answer that, if only I could find any. I did a Pubmed search on the researcher in Act 2 of the story, and she’s published only one study on the effects of esters on the brain…of rats, not humans.

Then I searched for research connecting coconut oil and Alzheimer’s, and got zero results.

So I checked NCCAM for any articles related to coconut oil and found one reference, which found no association between cognitive decline and saturated fats.

Finally, I checked the skeptical search engine to see if any science bloggers had taken a look at the evidence. Orac at Respectful Insolence refers to making similar attempts to find any evidence on this topic, equally unsuccessfully. In another article, Steve Novella has the same experience over at his Neurologica blog. At least it’s not just me.

So what do we take away from all this? That coconut oil is simply the latest health fad to feature that lethal combination of overblown claims and extremely thin science. That there’s no magic food, despite the marketing hype to the contrary. That our best defense is our ability to pick up on the warning signs that something’s amiss, which hopefully prods us to look at the actual evidence or lack thereof. And that every once in a while, skeptics can actually help someone spot those warning signs and question the bogus claims — even if that someone is only their Mom.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/coconut-oil/