A sugar-like substance used for years in medical imaging is about to be tested in clinical trials to see if it can protect people who suffer from frequent epileptic seizures.
The compound, known as 2-deoxy-D-glucose or 2DG, seems to trick the body into believing there is no sugar available, thus mimicking the effect of a ketogenic or no-sugar diet in reducing seizures. Clinical trials on epilepsy patients are expected to begin in 2010 at the University of Virginia.
Wisconsin neurology researchers Avtar Roopra, PhD; Thomas Sutula, MD, PhD; and Carl Stafstrom, MD, PhD, reported the novel anticonvulsant and disease-modifying effects of 2DG on animals with a type of epilepsy in the journal Nature Neuroscience in 2006.
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