Epilepsy

Peer-Reviewed Scientific Articles​

The inflammation theory of disease

September 14, 2022 No Comments

URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3492709/
Journal: EMBO Reports
Publication Date: 10/2012
Summary: An increasing body of evidence shows that chronic inflammation causes and advances many common diseases. This opens new possibilities for treatment and therapy by blocking the inflammatory processes.

Key Takeaways

Chronic inflammation is a major driver of disease. Especially in conditions associated with prolonged stress such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions and even clinical depression.

What's Causing Chronic Inflammation and Why It's Driving Most Major Diseases

Ketogenic diet and Neuroinflammation

September 14, 2022 No Comments

URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32987244/
Journal: Epilepsy Research
Publication Date: 09/2020
Summary: The high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet (KD) is an established treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy with a proven efficacy. The KD is being explored for Febrile Infection-Related Epilepsy Syndrome (FIRES) and epileptic encephalopathies. There is growing evidence that KD works by targeting dysregulated adaptive and innate immunity that occurs in drug-resistant epilepsy and in refractory status epilepticus. Beyond epilepsy, there are yet additional potential uses in neurological disorders because KD appears to have the broad anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties. The KD exerts anti-inflammatory action against a variety of experimental models of neurological disorders including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, pain, and spinal cord injury. Anti-inflammatory action of KD appears to be mediated by multiple mechanisms. Ketones bodies, caloric restriction, polyunsaturated fatty acids and gut microbiota modifications might be involved in the modulation of inflammation by the KD.

Key Takeaways

Through various mechanisms, a ketogenic diet protects the nervous system. The anti-inflammatory properties of the ketogenic diet can lead to improvement in neurological diseases such as seizures, MS, Parkinson's, and neuropathic pain.

Protect Your Nervous System with Keto!

Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy

September 14, 2022 No Comments

URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31635247/
Journal: Nutrients
Publication Date: 10/2019
Summary:  Currently available pharmacological treatment of epilepsy has limited effectiveness. In epileptic patients, pharmacological treatment with available anticonvulsants leads to seizure control in <70% of cases. Surgical intervention can lead to control in a selected subset of patients, but still leaves a significant number of patients with uncontrolled seizures. Therefore, in drug-resistant epilepsy, the ketogenic diet proves to be useful. The purpose of this review was to provide a comprehensive overview of what was published about the benefits of ketogenic diet treatment in patients with epilepsy. Clinical data on the benefits of ketogenic diet treatment in terms of clinical symptoms and adverse reactions in patients with epilepsy have been reviewed. Variables that could have influenced the interpretation of the data were also discussed (e.g., gut microbiota). The data in this review contributes to a better understanding of the potential benefits of a ketogenic diet in the treatment of epilepsy and informs scientists, clinicians, and patients-as well as their families and caregivers-about the possibilities of such treatment. Since 1990, the number of publications on attempts to treat drug-resistant epilepsy with a ketogenic diet has grown so rapidly that it has become a challenge to see the overall trajectory and major milestones achieved in this field. In this review, we hope to provide the latest data from randomized clinical trials, practice guidelines, and new research areas over the past 2 years.

Key Takeaways

The ketogenic diet can provide seizure control in patients who are resistant to pharmacologic or surgical therapy. Interestingly, the use of antibiotics can increase susceptibility to seizures in patients with seizure disorders due to depletion of beneficial gut bacteria.

Ketogenic Diet and A Strong Microbiome Helps Control Seizures

Ketogenic diet guidelines for infants with refractory epilepsy

September 14, 2022 No Comments

URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27470655/
Journal: European Journal of Paediatric Neurology
Publication Date: 07/2016
Summary: The resulting recommendations include patient selection, pre-KD counseling and evaluation, specific nutritional requirements, preferred initiation, monitoring of adverse effects at initiation and follow-up, evaluation and KD discontinuation.

Key Takeaways

This paper found that the ketogenic diet was highly effective for infants to remain seizure free. It then looked at all the available evidence to make a standardized treatment protocol for these infants.

Infants Seizure Free On Keto

Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy: What We Know So Far

September 14, 2022 No Comments

URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30760973/
Journal: Frontiers in Neuroscience
Publication Date: 01/2019
Summary: The Ketogenic Diet (KD) is a modality of treatment used since the 1920s as a treatment for intractable epilepsy. It has been proposed as a dietary treatment that would produce similar benefits to fasting, which is already recorded in the Hippocratic collection. The KD has a high fat content (90%) and low protein and carbohydrate. Evidence shows that KD and its variants are a good alternative for non-surgical pharmacoresistant patients with epilepsy of any age, taking into account that the type of diet should be designed individually and that less-restrictive and more-palatable diets are usually better options for adults and adolescents. This review discusses the KD, including the possible mechanisms of action, applicability, side effects, and evidence for its efficacy, and for the more-palatable diets such as the Modified Atkins Diet (MAD) and the Low Glycemic Index Diet (LGID) in children and adults.

Key Takeaways

The ketogenic diet is a treatment option for children and adults with epilepsy resistant to medication and surgery. Further, a modified Atkins diet or a low glycemic index diet with an emphasis on obtaining calories from fat appear to show benefit as well and may be more palatable to some patients. The exact mechanisms with which these diets control seizures is not fully understood, but common theories include anti-inflammatory properties of ketones and positive effects the diet have on the microbiome.

Low Glycemic Diets Are Beneficial for Epilepsy

The Ketogenic Diet: Uses in Epilepsy and Other Neurologic Illnesses

September 14, 2022 No Comments

URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2898565/
Journal: Current Treatment Options in Neurology
Publication Date: 11/2008
Summary: The ketogenic diet is well established as therapy for intractable epilepsy. It should be considered first-line therapy in glucose transporter type 1 and pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency. It should be considered early in the treatment of Dravet syndrome and myoclonic-astatic epilepsy (Doose syndrome).

Initial studies indicate that the ketogenic diet appears effective in other metabolic conditions, including phosphofructokinase deficiency and glycogenosis type V (McArdle disease). It appears to function in these disorders by providing an alternative fuel source. A growing body of literature suggests the ketogenic diet may be beneficial in certain neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In these disorders, the ketogenic diet appears to be neuroprotective, promoting enhanced mitochondrial function and rescuing adenosine triphosphate production.

Dietary therapy is a promising intervention for cancer, given that it may target the relative inefficiency of tumors in using ketone bodies as an alternative fuel source. The ketogenic diet also may have a role in improving outcomes in trauma and hypoxic injuries.

Key Takeaways

The ketogenic diet is a highly effective therapy for epilepsy, but it could be applied in a variety of conditions. Disease surrounding glucose and glycogen functions are prime candidates as the ketogenic diet provides an alternative fuel source. Ketones also appear to have a neuroprotective effect, thus the ketogenic diet may be helpful in diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS. Finally there may be a role for the ketogenic diet in cancer as tumors struggle to utilize ketones as fuel.

Beyond Epilepsy: The Ketogenic Diet For Enzyme Deficiencies, Neurodegeneration, and Cancer

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