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Before the advent of anti-seizure drugs, the ketogenic diet [1] was an effective and widespread intervention used to treat epilepsy. The downside is the discipl

Before the advent of anti-seizure drugs, the ketogenic diet [1] was an effective and widespread intervention used to treat epilepsy. The downside is the discipline required to keep intake of carbohydrates below 15 grams per day, especially in children. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet

0-_-0 6y ago
It's still used for treating e.g. West syndrome which is similar to epilepsy.
frereubu 6y ago
And still used in cases where drugs are not well tolerated: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002bnz https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002bnz This was for a child, and the parents talk about the difficulties in maintaining that diet that you mention.
shlant 6y ago
additional downsides include kidney stones[1,2,3,4], bone mineral loss[5] and a long list of other complications (including death): https://www.thepaleomom.com/adverse-reactions-to-ketogenic-diets-caution-advised/ https://www.thepaleomom.com/adverse-reactions-to-ketogenic-d... 1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11095028/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11095028/ 2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10893623/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10893623/ 3. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0883073807301926 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/088307380730192... 4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2852806/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2852806/ 5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19064531/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19064531/
- PudgePacket 6y ago
  Firstly those studies are all in children.. Study 1 doesn't actually show increases in kidney stones. Study 2 has N of 4... Study 3 looks reasonable, though they did note "use of oral potassium citrate significantly decreased the prevalence of stones" which is good news! Study 4 has N of 25 & no info about what they actually ate other than macronutrient ratio.
  - shlant 6y ago
    > Firstly those studies are all in children Your point? the OP ended his sentence with "especially in children" so I thought I'd share that which was relevant to children. If you are looking for information on adults, here are some possible clues: https://www.nature.com/articles/pr19971830 https://www.nature.com/articles/pr19971830 It makes sense considering the increase in uric acid, but might only be a problem in children and those susceptible to kidney stones (although when it presents in children, that is some pretty important information in terms of holistic, long-term diet considerations). Still definitely worth mentioning and I'm sure we will get more information as more studies are done on adults (most are on children due to it being used as an epilepsy treatment)
codeulike 6y ago
The NHS prescribe the ketogenic diet for some forms of epilepsy. That is, the UKs national health service prescribes keto as a treatment. And so the answer to the question posed by the OP "Can an extreme low carb diet be used as medicine?" is clearly Yes. You get a diet plan, support, specialist foods and ingredients, ketone testing kits, etc, all on prescription. There has been proper research into Keto as a treatment for some forms of epilepsy, and in some cases it performs as well as the best AEDs. See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25524846/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25524846/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16146451/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16146451/

0-_-0 6y ago

It's still used for treating e.g. West syndrome which is similar to epilepsy.

frereubu 6y ago

And still used in cases where drugs are not well tolerated: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002bnz https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002bnz This was for a child, and the parents talk about the difficulties in maintaining that diet that you mention.

shlant 6y ago

additional downsides include kidney stones[1,2,3,4], bone mineral loss[5] and a long list of other complications (including death): https://www.thepaleomom.com/adverse-reactions-to-ketogenic-diets-caution-advised/ https://www.thepaleomom.com/adverse-reactions-to-ketogenic-d... 1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11095028/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11095028/ 2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10893623/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10893623/ 3. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0883073807301926 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/088307380730192... 4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2852806/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2852806/ 5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19064531/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19064531/

PudgePacket 6y ago
Firstly those studies are all in children.. Study 1 doesn't actually show increases in kidney stones. Study 2 has N of 4... Study 3 looks reasonable, though they did note "use of oral potassium citrate significantly decreased the prevalence of stones" which is good news! Study 4 has N of 25 & no info about what they actually ate other than macronutrient ratio.
- shlant 6y ago
  > Firstly those studies are all in children Your point? the OP ended his sentence with "especially in children" so I thought I'd share that which was relevant to children. If you are looking for information on adults, here are some possible clues: https://www.nature.com/articles/pr19971830 https://www.nature.com/articles/pr19971830 It makes sense considering the increase in uric acid, but might only be a problem in children and those susceptible to kidney stones (although when it presents in children, that is some pretty important information in terms of holistic, long-term diet considerations). Still definitely worth mentioning and I'm sure we will get more information as more studies are done on adults (most are on children due to it being used as an epilepsy treatment)

codeulike 6y ago

The NHS prescribe the ketogenic diet for some forms of epilepsy. That is, the UKs national health service prescribes keto as a treatment. And so the answer to the question posed by the OP "Can an extreme low carb diet be used as medicine?" is clearly Yes. You get a diet plan, support, specialist foods and ingredients, ketone testing kits, etc, all on prescription. There has been proper research into Keto as a treatment for some forms of epilepsy, and in some cases it performs as well as the best AEDs. See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25524846/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25524846/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16146451/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16146451/