The ketogenic diet has been used for the treatment of epilepsy in children for almost 100 years. Originally, it was determined that individuals with seizures found benefit from starvation; subsequently a diet was proposed which was high in fat content, the breakdown of fat for energy producing ketones and therefore mimicking starvation(1). This was subsequently found to be effective in treating...

Since their introduction in 1921, high-fat, low-carbohydrate "ketogenic" diets have been used worldwide for refractory childhood epilepsy. Approximately half of the children have at least half their seizures reduced, including 15% who are seizure free. The mechanisms of action of dietary therapies are under active investigation and appear to involve mitochondria. Once perceived as a last resort...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the change in atonic or myoclonic seizures associated with the Lénnox-Gastaut syndrome during the initiation of the ketogenic diet, and to describe the development of a blinded crossover study of the efficacy of the ketogenic diet. DESIGN A before-after trial. SETTING The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. PATIENTS Change in clinical seizure frequency was examin...

The ketogenic diet can be effective in children who suffer from drug-resistant epilepsy. However, it is still hard to predict how large an effect this diet will have for an individual child. Previous data suggests a high-fat food preference is more likely in those with epilepsy, as assessed by in-person forced-choice design. The aim of this study is to examine whether a partiality to fatty food...