Tuesday, 22 Feb 2011 04:21 PM
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by seizures. Epilepsy can be controlled with medication but special epilepsy diets are also used to increase efficacy of treatment. The diet for epilepsy is called a ketogenic diet, and it works by changing the composition of nutritional elements in the body that result in the control of epileptic fits.In the early 20th century, seizures were controlled by a period of fasting which led to the removal of the toxin that was responsible for creating the fits from the blood stream.
With advances in medicine, the most efficient epilepsy diet today is a ketogenic diet. It is a high fat, moderate-protein, low carbohydrate diet that was developed almost eighty years ago. A ketogenic diet simulates a "starvation" state in the body by flooding it with fats and no carbs. As a result, the body uses fats for energy and not carbohydrates. Normally, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose which fuels the brain. In an epilepsy diet, there exists a low-carb environment. Therefore, fats are broken down into fatty acids and ketone bodies. An increased amount of ketones in the body produces a condition called ketosis which reduces epileptic seizures.
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