- What the heck is MCT oil? Well, let's take a step back and talk about the various types of fats that are chains of carbon atoms that are all strung together. And believe it or not, there
are short chain fatty acids. There are medium chain fatty acids that we generally categorize
as medium chain triglycerides, but they are medium
length chain fatty acids. There are long chain fatty acids. And as I've written about in
"Unlocking the Keto Code," there are extra long or
ultra long chain fatty acids that we won't go into today. Okay. Short chain fatty acids you may know about because these are these remarkable compounds like butyrate,
like acetate, like propionate that are really some of the most important signaling molecules in your body. Next up in the line are
medium chain fatty acids, medium chain triglycerides. Now these in general have
anywhere from six carbon atoms to 12 carbon atoms in a chain, and that makes them a medium length chain. Medium chain triglycerides are named after the Latin word for goat, capra. And so you have capric
acid, caprylic acid, caproic acid, and so forth. Why were they named after goats? Well, fun fact. Goat and sheep milks, about 30% of all the fats
in goat and sheep milk are medium chain
triglycerides, hence the name. Now, you're not gonna see C6 very often. Why? Because C6 quite frankly, smells goaty. And if you've ever been
around goats like I have, they have a goaty smell that most people don't find very pleasant. So what you're normally
going to find is C8. A lot of times you'll see C10. You won't see C12 very much. Now, why? Coconut oil has all of these
medium chain fatty acids, but the vast majority of
coconut oil is C12, lauric acid. Unfortunately, as we'll
talk about in a minute, lauric acid has no ketogenic effect. In fact, for ketogenic
effect, the best is C6 but you're not gonna drink that. C8 is next in line, which
has the best ketogenic effect of the medium chain triglycerides. C10 will not be as good, and C12 will quite frankly
have no ketogenic effect. So from the start, try to look for C8 or C8 and
C10 medium chain triglycerides. Coconut oil is not ketogenic, so please don't bother to
say I'm on a ketogenic diet and all I use is coconut oil. It's not gonna do the trick. Now, what happens with MCT oil? So most of the time when you eat any fat, these fats are broken down
into these fatty acids and they're absorbed not directly through the wall of your gut, but most fats have to actually
be put into moving vans that are called chylomicrons. And I promise there won't be a test. Chylomicrons literally float
through the wall of the gut and they don't go into the bloodstream, instead, they go into the lymph system. And they travel through lymph vessels along the back of your spine and eventually coalesce
into this big lymph vessel that drops all this fatuate into basically your superior vena cava, the big vein that enters your heart from the top of your head and your chest. So totally different
than all the other fats that are absorbed and
go direct to your liver. Now what's unique about that is that MCTs go direct to your liver. They don't go on chylomicrons, they don't go in your lymphatic system, and they go direct through
the wall of your gut into your liver. So, what? Well, their medium chain triglycerides are converted almost a
hundred percent in your liver to ketone bodies or the infamous ketones. Well, so what? Ketones have gotten a lot
of hype, a lot of press, that they are incredibly
important fuel sources for your muscles, for
your brain, for your body. And I spent a good part of
unlocking the keto code, hopefully debunking that myth. Ketones are a lousy fuel source. So why in the world would
you want to make ketones? Well, two reasons. Number one, when you
are on a ketogenic diet or a low carbohydrate
diet or you're starving, you don't make enough glucose
to keep your brain happy and the brain loves glucose. On the other hand, you make plenty of what are called free fatty acids and your muscles are delighted to burn free fatty acids for fuel. They think it's great. Your heart, by the way, loves and prefers free
fatty acids as a fuel, better than the glucose. But unfortunately, free
fatty acids are too big to get through the blood-brain
barrier into your brain. Your brain would be happy to use them, but they just can't get through. Ketones on the other hand, are smaller molecules of fat that just happened to be
able to get through the wall, the blood-brain barrier,
and into your brain where neurons can use
them as an emergency fuel and they can keep your brain alive during these time periods. But when we started realizing that ketones aren't the miracle fuel that everybody thought they
were, we started looking, well, if they're not a miracle fuel, but they're really good
for you, what do they do? And ketones actually
are signaling molecules that tell your mitochondria, the little energy producing
organelles in all of your cells that produce ATP, that they need to protect themselves and to protect their energy making ability by this mechanism called
mitochondrial uncoupling. And I've written books about this. I've talked about this, and that's not the purpose
of today's podcast. It's the fact that ketones made
directly from ingesting MCT are uncoupling devices
to make your mitochondria better, less damage, and to actually tell mitochondria to make more of themselves, a concept called mitogenesis. So, how does ketones work in the brain? Well, the ketogenic diet
was actually developed to treat children with
epilepsy back in the 1930s, almost a hundred years ago now. And it's very effective. In fact, there was a paper
this week just published looking at the effectiveness
of a ketogenic diet in drug resistant epilepsy in children. And lo and behold, even to this day, the ketogenic diet in kids
held up extremely well in these kids versus multi-dose
pharmaceutical drugs. Why does it work? We think now that it improves the mitochondrial function of the neurons by uncoupling mitochondria in the brain. And so that's the benefit
of getting ketones. Now, we will make ketones if
we starve ourselves to death, if we exercise incredibly
vigorously to exhaustion or we if we dramatically limit
carbohydrates and proteins and instead just eat a lot of fat. In fact, the original ketogenic
diet was an 80% fat diet and that for multiple
reasons is not good for you. And I again, spent a book explaining why that's not a good idea. But generating ketones
without the suffering is a really good idea for the
reasons we just went through. So the cool thing about
medium chain triglycerides are that when you swallow
them, they will be absorbed, go directly to your liver, and regardless of what
else you are eating, will generate ketones that
will signal your mitochondria to uncouple. And as a consequence, waste fuel. You literally will do a caloric bypass. Now, is MCT oil good for
people not on a ketogenic diet? Well, quite frankly, if
repairing your mitochondria, making your mitochondria healthier, and building more mitochondria
seems like a good idea, and I can assure you
it's a really good idea, then MCT oil is worth our interest. There are really good studies looking, comparing MCT oil versus
olive oil for weight loss. A Columbia University
study did exactly that and people were divided
into the oil they got. They either got olive oil or MCT oil. And olive oil is actually good
for weight loss in its own. But the people who got MCT oil had a much greater weight
loss during the study period than the folks getting olive oil. So MCT oil does work by
literally doing a caloric bypass. Now, can it work alongside
of a ketogenic diet? Well, sure, anytime. You can generate more ketones, the better up to a point. And I won't belabor that point. Now, mitochondrial alone coupling is what you are trying to achieve by ingesting medium chain triglyceride 'cause you want to generate ketones. And I joke that you could
actually eat a big fruit smoothie and ingest a tablespoon of MCT oil and you will generate ketones even though you ate just a
giant load of carbohydrates. And that's one of the
real, I think, beauties of adding MCTs to a
regimen for particularly long-term health and weight loss. The more stimulation from ketones, the more you tell your
mitochondria to protect themselves, repair themselves, and
the more you tell them to make more of themselves to
literally carry the workload. Now, I got interested in coconut by studying the Kitavans, which you've heard me talk a lot about. They're a ancient tribe in Pape New Guinea who subsist on eating a lot of coconuts. They eat tubers, they
don't drink coconut oil, but they have incredible longevity despite the fact or because
they are heavy, heavy smokers. And interestingly enough, there's never been a Kitavan found with coronary artery disease or a stroke or get this, cancer even though they're heavy smokers. So they're getting their
MCTs by eating the coconuts that are profuse on that island. So how do you use MCT oil? Well, first of all, a few provisos. In general, women are far more sensitive to the side effects of MCT oil than men. A number of women get an upset stomach, get a queasy stomach, get nauseated, get loose bowel movements even with small amounts of MCT oil. So the first word to
the wise is start slow. Try a teaspoon of MCT oil
a day and see how you do. It's flavorless, it's odorless, you can mix it in your salad dressing, you can pour it on your vegetables, you can put it in your coffee
like a bulletproof coffee. Just start there. If that's too much, I found with my female patients that the MCT powders have
less of an adverse effect. There are a number of MCT
powders on the market. There are MCT creamers that I
happen to make at Gundry MD. So this is another,
particularly if you're a female, another way of trying out MCTs. Preferably I'd like to get you up to about a tablespoon three times a day. Now, some of you will
never make that much, but in those cases where you
can, MCT oil again, is easy to get into your diet,
particularly in salad dressings or on vegetables or in a cup of coffee. So that's the way to work up to it. Is there a preferred time for fat loss? No. Remember, anytime you
start generating ketones, you will actually do a caloric bypass on your mitochondria. So if you're into intermittent fasting, then you probably don't need that extra boost of ketones in the morning 'cause you'd be making ketones anyhow. But if you're new to intermittent fasting, as you've read or heard me talk about, you won't make ketones for multiple days and you will fall flat on your face trying intermittent fasting, meal skipping, skipping breakfast, and there a tablespoon of MCT
oil may be just what you need to get you through that period until you start making your own ketones. So it's a great way to supplement. How do you find high quality MCT oil? Read the label. Look for C8. At worst, look for a combo of C8 and C10. Don't just buy something that says MCT oil 'cause for the most part, you're gonna get coconut oil with C12 and it has no ketogenic effect
and it's just bad calories. Now speaking of coconut oil, as you know, I treat a lot
of patients with the APOE 4G. And for those of you who need
reminding the APOE 4 mutation effects up to 30% of Americans, it's sometimes called
the Alzheimer's gene. So saturated fats in general
and coconut oil specifically, I ban from my APOE 4 patients. But MCT oil, even though a lot of it is
derived from coconut oil has none of the downside of coconut oil because these are much shorter chain fats and they're absorbed in an
entirely different mechanism and they make ketones. And my good friend Dale Bredesen, who wrote "The End of
Alzheimer's" will tell you that ketones are one of the
most important protective agents in your brain if you carry APOE 4G. So by all means, I tell my APOE 4 patients to please add MCT oil to their program. A lot of people say, but Dr. G, I thought the purpose of food was to get more olive oil
in your mouth, not MCTs. Well, that's true. Olive oil has a huge amount of polyphenols that directly benefit your health in different ways than MCT oil. And the benefit of
polyphenols, as you now know, is also to help uncouple
your mitochondria. So why not get a one two punch? Mix some MCT oil in with your olive oil. But again, the proviso, please start slow with MCT oil. Do not overdo it. I have seen so many people,
particularly my female patients, dive in wholeheartedly only
to suffer the consequences. And then they're scared of
ever introducing MCT oil. Please believe me, start slow. Start with an MCT powder and usually you can build up a tolerance. More amazing episodes just like this one. Watch now You should know that most detoxing diets are actually causing or
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