Infantile spasm (West Syndrome) is a specific type of seizure in infants and early childhood. The ketogenic diet is a high fat, adequate protein, low carbohydrate diet.

Researchers from the John M. Freeman Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes in Baltimore, Maryland — the leader in this form of treatment in infants — report their experience over 12 years. (more…)

 Does a low carbohydrate, keotgenic diet result in improved diabetes control in overweight people with type 2 diabetes mellitus?

Researchers from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina compared a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet to a low-glycemic, reduced-calorie diet. (more…)

I do. Although I was never sure if it made a difference.

Now, researchers from Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden report that eating 1 enriched egg each day leads to changes that might lower the risk for diabetes and death due to cardiovascular disease. (more…)

Researchers from the Institute of Child Health in London tested the ketogenic diet in a randomized controlled trial. (more…)

Among patients with epilepsy who follow a ketogenic diet, complete seizure control after 2 years is achieved in 24% — a 90% reduction in seizures is achieved in 52%. Unfortunately, only about 50% of patients (often children) can stay with the diet.

Now, a study reported during the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society concludes that seizure control with the Atkins diet is a possible alternative.

(more…)

Belinda at The Patient Connection is seeking opinions and experiences from people with epilepsy and their parents/caregivers. Topics include medication, ketogenic diets, and surgery.

From what I can tell, this is a company that specializes in conducting focus groups and opinion research for their clients. Ultimately, their work complements clinical trial results. (more…)

Since May, two publications (one here) have discussed the potential value of a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet in certain men with prostate cancer.

(more…)

Among patients with epilepsy who follow a ketogenic diet, complete seizure control after two years of treatment is achieved in 24%, while a 90% reduction in seizures is achieved in 52%. In other words, the reward for being able to tolerate this stringent, mathematically calculated diet that is high in fat and low in protein and carbohydrates is at least a 90% reduction in seizures in 3 out of 4 patients. These findings are part of a meta-analysis of 19 clinical trials of more than 1000 patients.

This is even more impressive when one considers that candidates for the diet are generally young children with medically intractable generalized seizures. It’s not easy. About 50% of patients drop out of the diet over time. The main reason given is that the diet was not effective. Other reasons include complaints that the diet is too restrictive, intolerability due to side effects, or just poor compliance that makes the effort not worthwhile.

The children and their parents and caregivers who stay with the effort deserve credit for their persistence and commitment, especially since the response is not immediate.

For more information on how the ketogenic diet works, go here. A good introduction is available here.

7/13/06 09:35 JR