Why Is the Ketogenic Diet Especially Helpful for Recently Worsened Epilepsy?
It might seem counterintuitive that when a condition has recently gotten worse, it would respond better to a treatment. But when you consider how the ketogenic diet works, it actually makes sense. Seizures increase the consumption of glucose in the brain. The way the ketogenic diet works is, by reducing carbohydrates and increasing fats, forcing the brain to use ketone bodies for fuel instead of glucose. Because the brain can’t make its own reserves of ketones, the increase of energy needs related to seizures remains unmet if the brain is consuming ketones instead of glucose. For patients whose seizure frequency has recently increased, the consumption of glucose has also been accelerated, so the switch to ketones is more effective in reducing seizures in these patients. Implications for Treating Children Villeneuve and her colleagues conclude that, at least preliminarily, their research suggests that children who have focal epilepsy that does not respond to drugs should be treated with
