Q: My son, who just turned four, has epilepsy. He's been treated with drugsand has even been hospitalized, but there's been no improvement. I've heard there is a special diet that can help treat severe epilepsy. What can you tell me about it?
A: The diet you're referring to is high in fats and low in carbohydrates. It is called a ketogenic diet, because it forces the body into ketosis, a state in which the body burns its reserves of fat. Doctors don't know why, but this state seems to reduce epileptic seizures.
Developed to treat epilepsy in the 1920s, before drugs for epilepsy were widely available, it is now being promoted by doctors at Johns Hopkins University. In one study there, 58 children subject to severe seizures were put on the diet; 67% showed major improvement. One child who suffered up to 100 seizures a day became seizure-free after a month on the diet. His parents, Jim and Nancy Abrahams, subsequently founded The Charlie Foundation to Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsy.
