Intractable epilepsy tied to nutritional deficits

[Bernard]

As reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, children with epilepsy ate statistically significant lower levels of total calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, dietary fiber, and multiple vitamins and minerals, compared with healthy children.

The team found that 30 percent of the children with seizures had lower-than-recommended intakes of vitamins D, E and K, folate, calcium, linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid. The younger children had lower levels of micronutrients than the older children.

Intractable epilepsy tied to nutritional deficits

[1096]

i drink milk, eat yoghurt and kellogs cereals when i can get the chance
i also like fruit
seemingly i am provided with enough of these vitamins and minerals....


legumes and seafood are also good

[Bernard]

It would have been interesting if the article had explored the issue in more depth, but I guess they leave it to the referenced magazine article to go into the details. I'm curious if they described what kind of diet was typical among the poor eaters.

[1096]

i agree

[brain]

Intractable / Refractory Epilepsy is also tied to birth
defects and diseases and genetic/DNA traits as well.
Which is why I have to take Folic Acid.

One of the things they had monitored me was my diet
on the video EEG's, of how I was eating, my selection of food,
et cetera - and they told me my diet was exceptional. And
when they attempted to throw in some sweets, I wouldn't
touch it, instead, they were tossed aside or if my mom
came in, she ate it. My mom has a serious sweet-tooth!


I'm not positive but I think it was one of the Head Nurse
that spoke with my mom about what and how I ate when
I was little and how I eat now, and she had this paper,
and since I couldn't understand everything as they were
going pretty quickly.

Then the Lady came up and told me that we do not need
to discuss anything about your diet, you eat properly, but
I needed more sugar in my diet. I said that's where I get
my sugar from - PEPSI!



And she goes - "UH UH! NO Pepsi!" But the epileptologist allowed it,
and they monitored me on Pepsi and were surprised how
LITTLE I drank it (my mom told them I drank too much of
it, but they watched me on video, and I drank just the
opposite, very little, 1 bottle, lasted me 3.5 days, and it
was still about half full before I finally discarded it).

My mom also told them I drank too much coffee, but when
they monitored me on the coffee, I hardly drank much of
that, so they could see my mother was exaggerating some
of the things, so on the 4th day, another Nurse, who I knew,
came in and we went through a list, except I check marked
a lot on my own and we talked.

Like what was my favorite foods, and she found out just
what a southern person I was. Collard Greens, Ham Hocks,
Cornbread, Grits, Gumbo, Tripe, etc, and I think she was
about to barf -

She thought I was teasing her - and I said "Call my son"
so she did, and when she got to this "tripe part" - she got
really queasy, and I'm not sure what she said but she hung
up on the phone. But I do know a Doctor asked her as I
was standing there by the doorway (as far as the EEG cord
would let me go) "Are you feeling ok?" And she looked at
me, "I'm not going to be eating at your place anytime soon!"



Gee - I wonder why? She's missing out all the good stuff!

[Bernard]

One woman's tripe is another woman's pleasure.

[Shelley]

If you have arrived to this page through a link on another website, please inform the webmaster of the site that the page has been moved.

[Bernard]

Oh poo. That's the problem with citing magazines, ezines and newspapers. They are always moving stuff around (or removing content entirely).

Here's a link to the abstract of the referenced Journal of the American Dietetic Association article:

http://www.adajournal.org/article/PI...04397/abstract

I think you need to register on the site to read the full article.

Reuters still has a copy of the news article quoted above:

http://www.reuters.com/article/healt...37364820070613

[Zoe]

I was sorry to see the article didn't go more in depth too. The low levels of folic acid and\or B12 lead to a build up of homocysteine in the blood, also linked to lowering the seizure threshold. Some of the anti-epileptic drugs can cause nutrition depletions which in turn may lower the seizure threshold, maybe why some of us develop "drug resistent" seizures.
This link is to a nutrition page giving the nutrients depleted by anti-epileptic drugs. They have a lot of information there on seizure disorders as well. I don't personally buy anything from them, but find the site a good resource. If we researched and were aware of these potentional problems with anti-epileptic drugs, I suspect a lot of us would have gotten our seizures under control with anti-epileptic drugs.
http://www.healingwithnutrition.com/...epsydrugs.html

[RobinN]

Bernard I can only imagine the type of diet that this article speaks of.

Brain - if you are speaking of the diet that is given at any traditional hospital, it is quite poor in nutrition. When Rebecca had her video EEG, she was allowed to choose the menu. Quite starchy and no one questioned it. Eating well and eating nutritionally well are two different things.

[brain]

Brain - if you are speaking of the diet that is given at any traditional hospital, it is quite poor in nutrition. When Rebecca had her VEEG, she was allowed to choose the menu. Quite starchy and no one questioned it. Eating well and eating nutritionally well are two different things.

It may depend on what the Neurologist or
Epileptologist has documented on the diet
if he/she had placed restrictions or not.

I do have to agree some hospitals have
"Hideous" food where I bet that ants
wouldn't even touch it!

[RobinN]

Food as medicine

http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog/food-as-medicine

Wouldn't it be nice if some medical practitioners would attend seminars like this. Perhaps pass it on to them:
http://www.cmbm.org/holistic_medicin...escription.php