Ketogenic Diet May Help Reduce Epileptic Spasms

Source: Epilepsy research

Summary

Researchers studied the effectiveness of the ketogenic diet (KD) for managing epileptic spasms (ES) in children. They reviewed 22 studies that included a total of 1,077 individuals, mostly boys, with an average age of about 16 months when they started the diet. The studies looked at how well the diet worked in reducing the frequency of spasms over different time periods.

The key findings showed that nearly half of the children experienced a significant reduction in spasms (50-99%) after three months on the ketogenic diet, while about a quarter of them became completely free of spasms. After six months, the percentage of children with a significant reduction in spasms dropped slightly, but the rate of those who were completely free of spasms remained the same. The researchers did not find any specific factors that could predict which children would respond best to the diet.

This study is important because it suggests that the ketogenic diet could be a helpful treatment option for children with epileptic spasms. However, the researchers noted that they could not identify any clear reasons why some children responded better than others, which means more research is needed. Understanding these factors could help improve treatment outcomes and provide better long-term care for children with epilepsy.

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