Found this interesting story about how a low carb diet may help young epileptics. Visit here: http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=707062004

I knew a child who was put on this diet several years ago - he stayed on it for over a year (his epilepsy was quite severe and he would have seizures even while on medication) - he was really good about sticking to it - but it was a horrible diet - he would bring his own food when he came to stay over with my son - his breakfast wasn't bad a couple of scrambled eggs with extra egg yolk and a couple of strips of bacon - but lunch was something like a couple of tablespoons of butter mixed with equal amounts of peanut butter - and dinner seemed to be about the same - at the end of it all he was much improved and he was able to come off his meds at least for a while (even after resuming a more normal diet) we lost touch though and I don't know how he's doing now.

Yeah, it actually cures young epileptics. If you ask me, its worth the horrible diet if this cures the disease for them!

I'm curious though what the effect would be of putting them on say an induction-level low-carb diet. The diet they're put on is extreme. Maybe it doesn't need to be that extreme to be effective.

I rather doubt you'd find many parents willing to volunteer to have their child put on the "higher" carb diet simply to satisfy curiosity, when their child's long-term health is at risk. Far, far better to just suck it up, eat the very high fat diet for a year or two and take care of the problem, IMHO.

I don't remember all the specifics but after finding out about this boy I knew being on the diet I looked into it more (I had actually heard of it before meeting him) and the diet does have to be that extreme to have the desired effect on the epilepsy - it has something do with the ketosis changing the brain cells connected to the disease. [edit] and they can't risk coming out of ketosis at all - and the carb levels have to be even lower than normal induction from what I remember

The little boy I knew was VERY good about staying to his diet and his mother worked in the medical field, she wasn't a Doctor or a nurse, but she was very informed. I don't know a lot of 8 year olds who could do this the way he did. Of course when I knew he was on a special diet I never offered him anything he shouldn't have but still there's going to be times when he's at places where he will be offered other foods. I really think it was awesome that a child that age managed to do this for over a year.

It's a very very specific diet, called the Ketogenic Diet (duh), and it only works for kids, not adults with epilepsy, or at least that is my understanding. I'm not certain, but I think the Mayo Clinic has a doc that supervises it. It should really only be done with supervision. It's not well known, but if a drug came out that was that effective, and essentially was a cure after a couple of years, it would be all over the news, I'm sure!

Hi everyone,
In England we have a news prog called 'Tonight' and the ketogenic diet was being trialed with children who have severe epilepsy.

Three children took part over the period of one year. These kids were fitting or blacking out about 10 or so times a day and the meds they were on totally zombified them.

So the parents were willing to try anything.

The diet was specifically tailored to each child and there was a lot of weighing and measuring. They showed one poor mother having to try to dissect an egg into four bits to ensure the correct weight and proportion of egg yolk to white.

Anyway the outcome of the trial was remarkable. All of the children showed a great improvement, all came off the meds and bit by bit were able to start to live normal lives.

The conclusion was that the ketogenic diet can help some but not all eppileptic children. I missed the first bit so I don't know if they went in to any of the theory as to why it works but it was really fascinating.

Its actually now been shown to work with adults as well. I know an adult who is epileptic and its working for him. Also there is another study that shows they dont need to go that extreme but Atkins induction level carbs seems to work just as well for them.

I think links to both studies are in this forum.

There's more info about the ketogenic diet here: http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/a...treatment/diet/

These poor people, I thought it must've been rough for an 8 year old - a lot of these people have babies under a year on the diet - this little boy had amazing results.

http://www.mynchen.demon.co.uk/Marc...%20case%20study

Just a medical question or two:

I was red-flagged by a testing lab years back because I was in ketosis. This leads to the misdiagnosis attempts by these misguided people that perhaps I was either in severe diabetic ketoacidosis, or was epileptic. Of course, the actual answer was I am in ketosis from the Atkins diet My question is essentially, is the presence of ketones in an epileptic the result of perhaps an inadequate albeit proper response by the body to self-medicate the epileptic condition? This would make sense as to why we see those who increase their ketone levels through any dietary mods discussed here as being at least a step in the right direction, etc.

Has there been any research done on the long-term effects of ketone fueling the brain to prevent Alzheimer's or other "brain rot" disease? Could it be that Alzheimer's is just the ultimate ruination caused by a high-carb lefestyle? [Not counting all of the other ravages on the rest of the body!]

Speaking somewhat evolutionary: Aren't hibernating animals who are living off their stored body fat having their brain fueled for months virtually exclusively on ketones? Don't we have some of this in our genes to thrive for long periods on the byproducts of starvations after bulking up the body fat first? Is this in some way connected to the fact that people who regularly fast really promote it because it makes them feel real good? I think it obviously explains how a lot of us feel when the diet is really working well!

cjl (Don't light a match near my mouth!]

Well, this is from the Alzheimer's Prevention Foundation. It looks like they advise a lean, high fiber, low in simple carb plan. They advise against trans-fats, and encourage complex carbs. Read on:

"Your brain, although one of the most complex organs of your body, is still flesh and blood. That means that, just like any other part of you, it needs adequate high quality fuel while at the same time avoiding foods that damage the brain.

The first change you can make in your diet is to reduce your fat intake to about 15-20% of your total calories. However, even more important is the quality of the fat your eat. Our modern diet is high in saturated, hydrogenated, and trans fats, all of which are harmful to our brains. Trans fats may be the most harmful. They are found in margarines, cookies and many types of processed foods. They disrupt the production of energy in the mitochondria (the energy factories) of brain cells.~

In place of these harmful fats use monounsaturated oils like olive oil, and omega-3 oils from flax and cold-water fish.

A diet rich in vegetables and fruits is also important. Because the brain is composed mainly of fat it is very susceptible to oxidation. Vegetables and fruits have high levels of antioxidants that help neutralize the free radicals produced by oxidation.

Adequate fuel for your brain is also important. Your brain uses glucose exclusively as a fuel. In fact, it uses 25% of the total amount of energy your body produces. Refined carbohydrates and sugars can cause your blood glucose levels to swing widely. Memory suffers when your blood glucose is low. For maximum efficiency your brain needs a steady supply of glucose, and this is best achieved with a diet rich in complex carbohydrates and at least 30 grams of fiber a day.

Foods that feed the brain:

1. Omega-three fatty acids found in fish, flax oil and spinach
2. Colorful vegetables that are rich in antioxidants
3. Whole foods such as brown rice, whole wheat bread and pasta, and legumes
4. Clean protein from organic meats, fish, soy and legumes.

Foods that harm the brain

1. Excess saturated fat (meat, cheese, and fried food)
2. Trans fat (margarines, baked goods, chips, fast food)
3. Excess calories~
4. Refined carbohydrates like, white rice, white bread, chips, pasta, and cookies."

that the Ketagenic Diet had been tested successfully on adult epileptics! That's wonderful, I wonder if it is a lifetime plan, or (like kids) they only need to be on it for a year or two?

Also, are the results published anywhere? Maybe I'll just go look at PubMed for it.

thanks for sharing, just another fact from my pro-carb foods professor shot down (again). I think he was just trying to prove another point.

*mumble mumble*

I know I have seen other things on this too. My friend was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 30. Never had a seizure before in his life. He had 8 that year. It totally destroyed his life. He was put on Atkins by his Doc and he swears its helping.