Misplaced Pages

Ketogenic diet

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Intrigue (talk | contribs) at 22:59, 18 October 2004 (→External links: removed irrelevant links). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 22:59, 18 October 2004 by Intrigue (talk | contribs) (→External links: removed irrelevant links)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

The ketogenic diet is a treatment for epilepsy that relies on inducing a state of ketosis. The diet prescribes foods high in fat, and heavily restricts carbohydrate intake. As fats become the body's primary source of metabolic energy, ketones accumulate in the brain, which can alleviate epileptic symptoms. The diet is more effective in children than adults, particularly when anticonvulsant drug therapy is ineffective (20%-30% of patients) or contraindicated.

The diet provides 3-4 grams of fat for every 1 gram of carbohydrate, calling for such foods as high-triglceride dairy products (butter, cream, mayonnaise), peanut butter, etc. Carbohydrates, found in breads and starches, are eliminated from the diet, and liquid intake is often restricted as well in order to aid ketone accumulation. Though superficially similar, this is not the same as the Atkins diet. Possible long-term side effects of the diet include:

  • kidney stones
  • abnormal liver function
  • high cholesterol
  • weight gain
  • dehydration
  • bone thinning

The diet is typically supplemented with calcium, vitamin D, iron, and folic acid. Among the possible reasons the diet was not widely adopted by doctors:

  • Lack of double blind studies. (see below)
  • Concerns about patient compliance with diet
  • Concerns about potential nutritional deficiency
  • It is possible that early anti-convulsants were statistically more effective than diets as treatment for new patients but that they worked on separate population groups.

The TV movie First Do No Harm recently increased awareness of the Ketogenic Diet, though a curative link between fasting and Epilepsy was even mentioned in the bible.

Scientific Studies

A [http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/1998/DECEMBER/981207.HTM study conducted by Johns Hopkins] reported that 50% of those patients starting the ketogenic diet reported a decrease in seizures of 50% or more, with 29% of patients reporting a 90% reduction in symptoms; these patients had previously tried an average of six anticonvulsant drugs. The success rate on patients who responded to anticonvulsants was not measured in that study (and appears to be lacking in other recent studies as well - there appears to be reluctance to try the diet on subjects except as a last resort). The success rate of the diet on those who are successfully treated with anti-convulsants may be higher, lower, or the same as those who do not respond. It may be that the diet and anti-convulsants are effective on different segments of the population.

The ketogenic diet has been reported to work in cases were multiple epilepsy drugs have failed. There may also be cases where the ketogenic diet has failed and epilepsy drugs succeeded. When one epilepsy drug fails, there is a high likelihood that other drugs will also fail. When the diet works, the response is often rapid and dramatic.

Double Blind Studies

Lack of double blind studies is an issue preventing wider acceptance by the medical profession. Reliance on proper studies rather than anecdotal evidence or flawed studies is important. Double blind studies help eliminate:

  • Placebo effect
  • Spontaneous Remission
  • Researchers expectations may prejudice their observations
  • Researchers inadvertently prejudicing patients through body language, tone of voice, etc.

However, doctors who oppose the ketogenic diet on the basis of lack of double blind studies are being somewhat hypocritical: combinations of anti-convulsants commonly prescribed also lack double blind studies on their interactions and it is not possible to do double blind studies on surgery, either.

It is difficult to conduct truly double blind studies on a diet. Unlike pills, the constituents of a diet are often rather obvious. One could argue that the placebo effect is not a factor since in one of the studies the patents have already tried six different "placebos" in the form of ineffective prescription drugs and the diet studies deal with a population group that has a low spontaneous remission rate. Also, in the patients previous clinical experience, they experienced a negative outcome when a positive outcome was expected by their doctors.

A double blind study of the Ketogenic Diet is underway.

External links

Ketogenic Diet: Fact or Fiction?]

Links to more studies

Clinical efficacy of the ketogenic diet.]

The ketogenic diet in children, adolescents and young adults with refractory epilepsy: an Italian multicentric experience.]