Keto Diet for Epilepsy

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NaderH

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I have heard that people have suggested the Keto diet for people with epilepsy. From what I read, it is high on fat and restricts carbs. Also, I found out that this diet increases LDL cholesterol levels. That in turn could lead to liver problems over time. More specifically, an outcome could be Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). My opinion is to avoid the Keto diet. What is your opinion regarding the Keto diet?
 
The keto diet, from my understanding, was originally used for children with epilepsy. There were large successes with it and many of these children "grew out" of their seizures.

Years later, I've seen more studies popping up, or at least more sources saying the keto diet is beneficial for adults as well.

I do believe the keto diet would be effective for most epileptics.

It is true that the keto diet restricts carbs to a low amount (I believe it's something like no more than 10-12 carbs a day or so). It does use high healthy fats and also a moderate to high amount of protein.

What happens when a person goes into ketosis is they are no longer relying on carbs for energy, but instead they are using healthy/good fats for their energy source.

The majority of the brain is fat - it needs good fats to function, too. When the brain is trained to run itself off of fats, it uses energy in the body pretty efficiently - doesn't leave excessive fat stores in your body. This is what has also made the keto diet more and more common for weight loss or emergency weight loss programs.

The good fats that are more common to use are coconut oil, avocado, bacon, and other animal fats (pork, duck, etc). These are often used generously at every meal.

I don't know much about the keto diet increasing LDL cholesterol or why it would do that.

However, what I do know is that some people do the keto diet and they have no guidance or resources for doing so. I've known people that have gone on the keto diet because they believe that is the best diet for them and then get dehydrated while on it because they're not consuming enough liquids or having issues because they haven't had enough fats.

It's also possible to get what's called the "keto flu". It's believed that what this really is is sugar withdrawals from carbs and the body is acting out because this is out of routine.

I should technically be on a keto diet. Kind of wished I would have been as a kid, perhaps my outcome would've been better. Although, I gave my mom a hard time. I couldn't have chocolate cake so I decided it was a "no go." Back then, we didn't have all the alternatives we do now for carby foods.

Even now, I am sensitive to most grains and I am allergic to rice. If I have rice, I almost have a seizure - it's that awful. I honestly think it's neurotoxic pesticides and not the rice itself. Same goes for the grains. Our food is treated so much different than it used to be. Either way, in my case, if I go without the grains that bother me, my diet is pretty close to low carb - at least paleo.

Although, I drop pounds like crazy when I drop wheat 100% that I try to have some complex carbs like sweet potato, carrots, pumpkin, nut butters, etc. to keep some weight on. I will get terribly thin. I am pretty sure I have gut damage from the amount of wheat I've had over my life time and I know it bothers me badly over the long run, but I was never checked for celiacs or gluten sensitivity growing up. It wasn't a huge thing like it is now.

I do believe the keto diet can be helpful and can reduce the amount of medication used to control seizures in most people.
 
Hi,
I was on the keto diet until I lost to much weight and then I had to go off of it. The diet did help reduce the seizures
a lot and if you take a diuretic med like Diamox the diet won't work. I had no problem with my cholesterol at all or my
liver but you have to go on the diet slowly and you have to stay away from pastas. I ate a lot of cheesecake when it came
to snacks, but I was on a 5 to 1 diet 5 grams of fat to every gram of protein and if you want to learn how it works good
you may want to buy the book titled "The Epilepsy Diet Treatment" By Dr. John Freeman.

What got me to go on the diet more than anything was during WWII my cousin had tonic clonic seizures and he went
on the diet and was in the Air Force flying airplanes and the entire time he was on the diet he never had a seizure especially
while flying planes but when he came home from the war and went off the diet the seizures started up again. This diet has
been out since 1927.

I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You,

Sue
 
Hi,
I was on the keto diet until I lost to much weight and then I had to go off of it. The diet did help reduce the seizures
a lot and if you take a diuretic med like Diamox the diet won't work. I had no problem with my cholesterol at all or my
liver but you have to go on the diet slowly and you have to stay away from pastas. I ate a lot of cheesecake when it came
to snacks, but I was on a 5 to 1 diet 5 grams of fat to every gram of protein and if you want to learn how it works good
you may want to buy the book titled "The Epilepsy Diet Treatment" By Dr. John Freeman.

What got me to go on the diet more than anything was during WWII my cousin had tonic clonic seizures and he went
on the diet and was in the Air Force flying airplanes and the entire time he was on the diet he never had a seizure especially
while flying planes but when he came home from the war and went off the diet the seizures started up again. This diet has
been out since 1927.

I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You,

Sue
Does anyone know how/why Keto diet reduces seizures?
Gary
 
Does anyone know how/why Keto diet reduces seizures?
Gary

Hi Gary,

Welcome to the forum. What happens is while on the diet a persons body builds up ketones and its' the
ketones that help reduce or stop a persons seizures.
Wishing You only the best and May God Bless You,

Sue
 
Home - Matthew's Friends - Ketogenic Diet (matthewsfriends.org)

Also:

"In many epileptic patients, anticonvulsant drugs either fail adequately to control seizures or they cause serious side effects. An important adjunct to pharmacologic therapy is the ketogenic diet, which often improves seizure control, even in patients who respond poorly to medications. The mechanisms that explain the therapeutic effect are incompletely understood. Evidence points to an effect on brain handling of amino acids, especially glutamic acid, the major excitatory neurotransmitter of the central nervous system. The diet may limit the availability of oxaloacetate to the aspartate aminotransferase reaction, an important route of brain glutamate handling. As a result, more glutamate becomes accessible to the glutamate decarboxylase reaction to yield gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the major inhibitory neurotransmitter and an important antiseizure agent. In addition, the ketogenic diet appears to favor the synthesis of glutamine, an essential precursor to GABA. This occurs both because ketone body carbon is metabolized to glutamine and because in ketosis there is increased consumption of acetate, which astrocytes in the brain quickly convert to glutamine. The ketogenic diet also may facilitate mechanisms by which the brain exports to blood compounds such as glutamine and alanine, in the process favoring the removal of glutamate carbon and nitrogen."

The above quote was taken from the following link:

The Ketogenic Diet and Brain Metabolism of Amino Acids: Relationship to the Anticonvulsant Effect - PMC (nih.gov)

Further Reading:

"Evidence points to an effect on brain handling of amino acids"

Amino Acid Metabolism (news-medical.net)

Transamination - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Transamination of amino acids - YouTube

Transaminase - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Aminotransferase - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

4 Aminobutyrate Aminotransferase - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

"aspartate aminotransferase"

Aspartate Aminotransferase - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

"glutamate decarboxylase"

Glutamate Decarboxylase - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

** DO NOT ALTER ANY MEDICATION WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR'S CONTENT**

I do not use the Ketogenic Diet, but I do use B Vitamins. My story:

(((*** 40 years on vitamin b6 ***))) | Epilepsy Forums (coping-with-epilepsy.com)
 
The Keto diet works very well for some people. I wouldn't let any health related concens bother you until you try it under supervision. You absolutely must have a nutritionist. It can be used long term without negative effects, but only with good guidance. You won't know if you have any issues unless you try it. Drugs cause problems too, so taking less meds on the Keto diet could be beneficial. The problem is that it can be so restrictive that it requires a lot of planning to get adequate nutrition. There are all sorts of cookbooks and things, but it requires planning. I was on it for almost a year and got most of my calories from heavy cream. I was seizure free. More info:



 
The Keto diet works very well for some people. I wouldn't let any health related concens bother you until you try it under supervision. You absolutely must have a nutritionist. It can be used long term without negative effects, but only with good guidance. You won't know if you have any issues unless you try it. Drugs cause problems too, so taking less meds on the Keto diet could be beneficial. The problem is that it can be so restrictive that it requires a lot of planning to get adequate nutrition. There are all sorts of cookbooks and things, but it requires planning. I was on it for almost a year and got most of my calories from heavy cream. I was seizure free. More info:



It sounds like Keto is a past tense thing for you, why did you stop it? Are you still seizure free? While heavy cream sounds great, I'll bet you couldn't add sugar and vanilla to make it taste like dessert whipping cream. I also have allergies to most dairy products, and I don't mean lactose intolerance, but allergies to the proteins contained therein.
 
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