Calls for research into coconut oil

An Oxford University professor is leading calls for a full investigation into the benefits of coconut oil as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

David Smith is the professor of pharmacology at the Physiology Institute at Oxford University and director of the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (Optima) and he insists that the recent media reports of Alzheimer's patients who have seen their condition improve after taking coconut oil is enough to warrant further research.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: "We have no way of knowing if coconut oil is truly effective, but given the scale of the Alzheimer's crisis facing us, and that there's a rational mechanism for why it could work, it's obviously crying out for a proper trial."

Alzheimer's UK has said that it is not prepared to fund research into the benefits of coconut oil, though it admits it does not discourage people with Alzheimer's from taking it.

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