The ketogenic diet, which is a diet low in carbohydrates, may benefit children with epilepsy.
- According to the World Health Organization, 50 million people worldwide suffer from epilepsy.
- The ketogenic diet is often favored by people with type 2 diabetes because it affects blood sugar and weight.
Epileptic seizures are awesome. Whether they affect all or only part of the body, they are manifested by tremors, and sometimes by loss of consciousness and bladder control. This chronic disease can appear at all ages: in France, 600,000 people are affected according to the‘Inserm, half of whom are children. Treatments exist to reduce or even eliminate seizures, but they are effective in only one third of patients. According to one University of Kentucky study, there could be another solution to treat children with epilepsy: food. These specialists have demonstrated that the ketogenic diet can reduce or even eliminate seizures.
Epilepsy: what is the ketogenic diet?
According to the authors, the ketogenic diet has been used to treat epilepsy since the 1920s.”The ketogenic diet, also called ‘very low carbohydrate diet’ or ‘very low carb diet’ contains mainly fat (lipids) and very little carbohydrates”, explains Diabetes Quebec. Thus, the body draws energy from lipids, rather than from glucose: this phenomenon is called ketosis. The main consequence is weight loss.
What are the effects of the ketogenic diet on epilepsy?
Studies have shown that this mode of feeding also reduces “excitability” of the brain, one of the triggering factors of epileptic seizures. According to this new work, a ketogenic diet followed scrupulously by children with difficult-to-treat epilepsy can have beneficial effects on the disease. In their study, the researchers observed that 7% of the children had no more seizures, 20% of them had a 90% reduction in seizures and 50% of the children had a 50% reduction in seizures.
Ketogenic diet and epilepsy: what are the risks?
The researchers point out that the ketogenic diet must be supervised by a health professional, whether a doctor or a nutritionist. As Diabetes Quebec reminds us, this diet can have undesirable effects. “The most commonly reported are fatigue, headache, dizziness, nausea and muscle cramps, develops the organism. (…) Constipation sets in quickly and persists due to the lack of fibre. This problem is accentuated in the presence of insufficient hydration“To limit the risks, it is recommended to drink water, throughout the day and to consume enough vegetables, calcium and proteins. “Focus on heart-healthy fats found in foods like olive oil, nuts, and fatty fish”adds Diabetes Quebec.
Ketogenic diet: an interest in other pathologies?
In conclusion of their study, the American scientists explain that clinical trials are underway to observe the effects of the ketogenic diet on Alzheimer’s disease, glioma, migraine, motor neuron diseases, neurodegenerative pathologies that affect motor neurons. and other ailments. In March 2022, an American study demonstrated that it could improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy in patients with pancreatic cancer.