Can diet combined with drugs reduce seizures? (Modified Atkins reduced seizures by half)

Medical Xpress / American Academy of Neurology / Neurology ^ | Jan. 4, 2022 | Manjari Tripathi, MD, DM et al

[ConservativeMind]

Following a modified Atkins diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates plus taking medication may reduce seizures in people with tough-to-treat epilepsy, according to a study.

"For people with drug-resistant epilepsy, or those who have been unable to find effective treatment to reduce seizures, it's encouraging to see that there are lifestyle changes that can be combined with standard drug therapy to reduce the number of seizures," said Manjari Tripathi, MD, DM. "Our study found that this combination may reduce seizures by more than half."

The modified Atkins diet is a combination of the Atkins diet and a ketogenic diet that includes food items such as soy products, heavy cream, butter and oils, leafy green vegetables, and animal protein including eggs, chicken, fish, and bacon.

The study involved 160 adults and adolescents who had epilepsy for more than 10 years on average and had at least 27 seizures per month despite trying an average of four antiseizure medications at the maximum tolerated dose. They were randomly assigned to receive either standard drug therapy alone or drugs plus the modified Atkins diet over six months.

Carbohydrate intake was restricted to 20 grams per day.

After six months, researchers found that 26% of people who had both drug therapy and followed the modified Atkins diet had more than a 50% reduction in seizures compared to only 3% of people who had drug therapy alone. Four people in the diet group were free of seizures by the end of the study, while no one in the medication-only group was seizure-free.

The study also looked at quality of life, behavior and side effects at six months. The group that had drug therapy and followed the modified Atkins diet showed an improvement in all areas compared to the group that had drug therapy alone.

[ConservativeMind]

This reads a little weird, but 33% of people dropped out of the study, leaving a smaller final proportion of Atkins with drugs versus drugs alone.

I believe the second to the last paragraph should read, “…researchers found that the 26% of people who had both…”

[ConservativeMind]

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[Larry Lucido]

Need new glasses. I read that as “Can dirt combined with drugs reduce seizures?”

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

They have used something similar to this since the 1920s.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/epilepsy/diet-therapy.html

Its a very difficult diet to stay on.

[logi_cal869]

“...first, do no harm”

Look it up.

Plus

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/14018/1/MQ46131.pdf

I’m really tired of the keto ‘diet’ blather. But even though these researchers appear to be quite disconnected, it’s good to see a post about keto applicable to its only proven use as a therapy.

[nickcarraway]

Kwto?

[fedupjohn]

Bookmark

[LilFarmer]

Here is an interesting history of the Ketogenic diet for epilepsy starting in 1915.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/epilepsy/keto-diet-timeline.html

My son has epilepsy and is on keto. He was able to wean off his medicine completely for six months, but the doctor wanted him back on the lowest therapeutic dose because of his being college-age and not always eating or sleeping great.

Anyway, it has worked very well for him. He has had no seizures in 5 years. He does have to eat carbs periodically so he doesn’t lose too much weight.