The core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder are poorly treated with current medications. Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder are frequently comorbid with a diagnosis of epilepsy and vice versa. Medically-supervised ketogenic diets are remarkably effective nonpharmacological treatments for epilepsy, even in drug-refractory cases. There is accumulating evidence that supports the efficacy of ke...

INTRODUCTION Childhood absence epilepsy is an epilepsy syndrome responding relatively well to the ketogenic diet with one-third of patients becoming seizure-free. Less restrictive variants of the classical ketogenic diet, however, have been shown to confer similar benefits. Beneficial effects of high fat, low-carbohydrate diets are often explained in evolutionary terms. However, the paleolithic...

The ketogenic diet is an effective treatment for drug-resistant epilepsies in children. In addition, it is the first-line treatment for some metabolic disorders, such as glucose transporter 1 deficiency syndrome. This article discusses the proposed mechanisms of a ketogenic diet's antiseizure action, its clinical indications, and its contraindications. The steps involved in ketogenic diet initi...

141 M ost practicing child neurologists possess a basic understanding of the ketogenic diet, which is a high-fat, low-protein, low-carbohydrate diet for treating children with epilepsy who do not respond to or cannot tolerate drugs. This diet mimics the biochemical changes associated with starvation and induces, among other changes, production of ketone bodies (mainly beta-hydroxybutyrate, and ...

A prospective study was performed of all children started on the ketogenic diet at our institution for intractable epilepsy from January 2003 to March 2007 (n = 137), examining for baseline and follow-up total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Interventions for dyslipidemia were analyzed for their effectiveness. At baseline, 25% of children had hypercholesterolemia (>200 mg/dL), which increa...

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...

Ketogenic diets are high in fat and low in carbohydrates, and have long been used as an anticonvulsant therapy for drug-intractable and pediatric epilepsy. Additionally, ketogenic diets have been shown to provide neuroprotective effects against acute and chronic brain injury, including beneficial effects in various rodent models of neurodegeneration. Huntington's disease is a progressive neurod...

31 Ketogenic diets are very low in carbohydrates and can reduce epileptic seizures significantly. 32 This dietary therapy is particularly effective in pediatric and drug-resistant epilepsy. 33 Hypothesized anticonvulsant mechanisms of ketogenic diets focus on increased inhibition and/or 34 decreased excitability/excitation. Either of these consequences might not only reduce seizures 35 but coul...

Nutritional imbalance underlies many disease processes but can be very beneficial in certain cases; for instance, the antiepileptic action of a high fat and low carbohydrate ketogenic diet. Besides this therapeutic feature it is not clear how this abundant fat supply may affect homeostasis, leading to side effects. A ketogenic diet is used as anti-seizure therapy i.a. in tuberous sclerosis pati...