The ketogenic diet, modified Atkins diet, and low-glycemic-index treatment have all emerged over the past decade as important therapeutic options for children with intractable epilepsy. Whereas only a decade ago the ketogenic diet was seen as an "alternative'' treatment of last resort, it has become more frequently used throughout the world. The past year alone 2 randomized and controlled trial...

High-fat diets produce obesity in part because, per calorie, glucose produces greater post-prandial thermogenesis than lipids, an effect probably mediated by glucose-sensing neurons. A very low-carbohydrate/high-fat/high-protein Atkins-type diet produces obesity but is marginally ketogenic in mice. In contrast, high-sucrose/low-fat diets, and very low-carbohydrate/high-fat/low-protein (anti-epi...

PURPOSE Numerous studies have suggested that the ketogenic diet is effective in the treatment of epileptic spasms, even in refractory cases. However, there has been very limited demonstration of prompt and complete (video-EEG confirmed) response. We set out to describe our center's experience with the ketogenic diet in the treatment of children with highly refractory epileptic spasms, with rigo...

Autism spectrum disorders share three core symptoms: impaired sociability, repetitive behaviors and communication deficits. Incidence is rising, and current treatments are inadequate. Seizures are a common comorbidity, and since the 1920's a high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet has been used to treat epilepsy. Evidence suggests the ketogenic diet and analogous metabolic approaches may bene...

Ketogenic diet has been used for more than 80 years as a successful dietary regimen for epilepsy. Recently, dietary modulation by carbohydrate depletion via ketogenic diet has been suggested as an important therapeutic strategy to selectively kill cancer cells and as adjuvant therapy for cancer treatment. However, some researchers insist ketogenic diet to be highly undesirable as ketogenic diet...

The ketogenic diet is an effective treatment for the patients with intractable epilepsy, however, the diet therapy can sometimes be discontinued by complications. Protein-losing enteropathy is a rarely reported serious complication of the ketogenic diet. We present a 16-month-old Down syndrome baby with protein-losing enteropathy during the ketogenic diet as a treatment for West syndrome. He su...

background: the ketogenic diet (kd), high in fat and low in carbohydrate and protein, provides sufficient protein but insufficient carbohydrates for all the metabolic needs of the body. kd has been known as a therapeutic manner intractable epilepsy. in recent years, the effectiveness of kd drew attention to the treatment of some other disorders such as parkinson’s disease (pd). this study has e...

Ketogenic diets are high-fat, low-carbohydrate formulations effective in treating medicallyrefractory epilepsy, and recently we demonstrated lowered sensitivity to thermal pain in rats fed a ketogenic diet for 3-4 weeks. Regarding anticonvulsant and hypoalgesic mechanisms, theories are divided as to direct effects of increased ketones and/or decreased glucose, metabolic hallmarks of these diets...

Abstract Overweight and obesity has increased in prevalence over the last two decades in many developed and developing countries including Iran. The aim of this present study was to compare the weight reduction effects of ketogenic and low calorie diets on overweight and obese Iranian children. Seventy-six overweight or obese children aged 9-16 years recruited from outpatient Ghaem Hospital, Nu...

Very low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets are popular yet little is known regarding the effects on serum biomarkers for cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study examined the effects of a 6-wk ketogenic diet on fasting and postprandial serum biomarkers in 20 normal-weight, normolipidemic men. Twelve men switched from their habitual diet (17% protein, 47% carbohydrate and 32% fat) to a ketogenic di...