The diet that could cure epilepsy

290216. Angela Day Fish. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko 307

290216. Angela Day Fish. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko 307

Published Apr 7, 2016

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London - Of all the miracle diets that are touted, there is perhaps one that lives up to the name.

It doesn't involve eating a crucial nutrient that a person is lacking, or avoiding one that's causing an unpleasant reaction. In fact, nobody knows exactly how it works. But for people with epilepsy, there's a real chance that the ketogenic diet, if followed strictly, can control - even cure - their disease.

“Not everyone responds to the diet - just like medicine - but a good response can be a gamechanger,” says Adam Hartman, a US associate professor of neurology who treats children with epilepsy at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and who is working on understanding more about how the diet works.

Though there are variations to the ketogenic diet, essentially it's low in carbs and high in fat, and contains strictly controlled levels of protein, all of which makes the body think it is fasting. Rather than using glucose, the preferred energy source, the body burns fat. This results in the production of chemicals called ketones - hence the name.

The diet is usually tried on people who have not responded to at least a few anti-epilepsy drugs. Hartman says this is because it's generally easier to take a pill or a small amount of liquid than stick to such a radical dietary change. If people manage it, though, various research papers provide evidence of potentially profound impacts.

Not everyone responds to the diet - just like medicine - but a good response can be a gamechanger. A randomised controlled trial of the diet, involving 145 children who had seizures at least once a day and who had failed to respond to at least two drugs, found that after three months, 38 percent of the children on the diet were having half as many seizures as before (compared with only six percent of children not on the diet).

Other studies have suggested that the diet can even leave some people seizure-and medication-free - impressive, says Hartman, given that people who start the diet have tried on average six or seven types of medication.

Although no one really knows how the diet works, there are some clues. There is evidence, for example, that metabolites of fatty acids produced in people on the diet affect neurotransmitters and their receptors in the brain. But the diet may also affect gene expression and the function of mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses of our cells, Hartman says.

However, if it works, the results may be worth it: “One mother told me that anyone who thinks sticking to the diet is tough should compare it with watching a child have more than 100 seizures a day,” says Hartman. “It's all a matter of perspective.”

 

The Independent

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