The Charlie Foundation

Today's Super Special Fun-Time Extraordinary Playtime Post is mostly going to be a plug for a website.  But it's a cool one, so I'm sure you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Don't you?  Don't you?  Why are you ignoring me?!

 It's called the Charlie Foundation, and it actually has nothing to do with diabetes.

The Charlie Foundation was created because of a young boy named Charlie who suffered from epilepsy.  He was having multiple seizures a day for years until his doctors put him on a highly restrictive ketogenic diet.  His condition improved to the point where he was mostly seizure free, and the foundation was founded "to provide information about diet therapies for people with epilepsy, other neurological disorders and tumorous cancers."

While a lot of anecdotal evidence exists to verify this diet's treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders, no one is really sure why ketogenic diets work.  This is partly due to the fact that there are actually very few scientific studies that show what ketones actually do.

We know that they exist and do something.

There is a pretty good chance that ketones have a preservative (and possibly even regenerative) effect on brain tissue because of the success of ketogenic diets in managing epilepsy, as well as Alzheimer's and Parkinsons'.  The problem is that the body can only produce them by burning long chain fatty acids in the mitochondria, which can only get in if CPT1 is open.  CPT1 is closed in the presence of Malonyl-CoA, a byproduct of a glucose-heavy diet, aka a normal diet.  So, the body can't get ketones unless it burns its own fat.

OR CAN IT?

*cue dramatic music*

 Medium chain fatty acids, unlike long chain fatty acids, don't need to enter the mitochondria through CPT1, and can take a figurative back door in.  The oxidation of medium chain fatty acids still produces ketones, with the added bonus of not having to completely swear off sugar.  Medium chain fatty acids are found in things like coconut oil.

The source of all of life's joy.

Thanks for reading!