Ketogenic diet
The Ketogenic diet is not for everybody. In fact, this highly specialized and carefully balanced diet is meant for people with epilepsy (especially children) whose seizures have not responded to medicines.
Those on the diet adhere to a very specific ratio of fat, carbohydrate and protein: around 80 percent fat, 15 percent protein and 5 percent carbohydrate.
Meal plans are patient-tailored and can include heavy cream, bacon, eggs, tuna, shrimp, vegetables, mayonnaise, sausages and other high-fat and low-carbohydrate foods. Patients should not eat starchy vegetables and fruits, breads, pasta or sources of simple sugars (even toothpaste might have some sugar in it). Side effects, according to the Mayo Clinic, include constipation, dehydration, lack of energy and hunger.
The diet, though unconventional, is effective at controlling epilepsy. One clinical trial published in The Lancet in 2008 showed that children on the ketogenic diet reduced the number of seizures they suffered by more than a third, compared with children not on the diet.
On top of that, 28 out of 54 children on the diet suffered 50 percent fewer seizures, and five children had better than 90 percent seizure reduction after staying on the diet for three months, the study showed.
However, the diet’s strictness, unpalatability and side effects can make it difficult to adhere to.
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