Ketogenic diets in the treatment of epilepsy.
Epilepsy (a proneness to recurrent seizures) is the most common serious neurological disorder, with an incidence of around 40-70 cases per 100,000 population in developed countries, and a lifetime risk of 1-3%.(1-3) Seizures have been reported to cease on absolute fasting, and early studies suggested that a diet high in fat and low in carbohydrate would produce similar conditions to fasting; the anticonvulsant effect was attributed to the production of ketones.(2) The ketogenic diet was introduced as a treatment for epilepsy in the 1920s, but its use waned with the introduction of phenytoin and other antiepileptic drugs.(2-4) However, around 30% of patients continue to have seizures while taking one or more antiepileptic drugs, and some patients have significant unwanted effects with such medication.(1,2) During the past two decades, there has been a renaissance of interest in dietary therapy.(2) Here, we focus on the use of ketogenic diets in the treatment of epilepsy.
D055423:Diet, Ketogenic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000178:diet therapy*; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome