Doctor says an oil lessened Alzheimer’s effects on her husband
By Eve Hosley-Moore, Times Correspondent
In print: Wednesday, October 29, 2008

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After two weeks of taking coconut oil, Steve Newport’s results in an early onset Alzheimer’s test gradually improved says his wife, Dr. Mary Newport. Before treatment, Steve could barely remember how to draw a clock. Two weeks after adding coconut oil to his diet, his drawing improved. After 37 days, Steve’s drawing gained even more clarity. The oil seemed to “lift the fog,” his wife says.

The only thing that kept Dr. Mary Newport positive in the face of her husband’s early onset Alzheimer’s disease was that he didn’t seem aware of how much ground he was losing.

“He didn’t know the full ramifications of his decline — I hate to say it but that was the only blessing. I was watching my husband of 36 years simply fade away,” said Dr. Newport, 56, a neonatologist and medical director of the newborn intensive care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital.

An accountant, Steve Newport left his corporate job the day his first daughter was born, allowing his wife to finish her medical training. As time went on, he worked from home, keeping the books for her neonatology practice and taking care of their two daughters, now age 22 and 26.

About six years ago, Newport began struggling with daily tasks. He took longer to complete the business’ payroll and was making more mistakes.

“I didn’t know what was happening to me. I was confused,” Newport said of his prediagnosis days.

“There were big clues, and I knew that something was going on here,” Dr. Newport said.

They saw his primary care physician, who referred him to a specialist. The diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s was a devastating blow. According to the National Institutes of Health, as many as 4.5-million Americans have Alzheimer’s. Early onset Alzheimer’s strikes people age 30 to 60 and is rare, affecting only about 5 percent to 10 percent of those with Alzheimer’s.

While there is no way to confirm an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Newport tested positive for the genetic marker that puts a person at higher risk for early onset Alzheimer’s.

He was put on several FDA-approved medicines to help slow the progression of the disease, but he continued to decline. In August of last year, Dr. Newport said, her husband underwent a “drastic change,” losing more than 10 pounds.

“He had completely lost interest in eating, and that was not a good sign,” she said. He also abandoned the kayaking and gardening he loved so much.

Dr. Newport searched the Internet for clinical drug trials that would accept her husband. In May, he was set to apply for studies in St. Petersburg and in Tampa.

A fuel that nourishes the brain from birth.