From the NY Times today comes a report on a high protein, very low carbohydrate diet to treat epilepsy. Your diet matters to the health of your brain. Recently I mentioned an elimination diet that was highly effective in treating ADD children. Could it be our diets are making our brains sick? It is at least part of the puzzle. Enjoy the article by Aliyah Baruchin.
A formerly controversial high-fat diet has proved highly effective in reducing seizures in children whose epilepsy does not respond to medication, British researchers are reporting.
As the first randomized trial of the diet, the new study lends legitimacy to a treatment that has been used since the 1920s but has until recently been dismissed by many doctors as a marginal alternative therapy.
“This is the first time that we’ve really got Class 1 evidence that this diet works for treatment of epilepsy,” said Dr. J. Helen Cross, professor of pediatric neurology at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital. She is a principal investigator on the study, which will appear in the June issue of The Lancet Neurology.
Though its exact mechanism is uncertain, the diet appears to work by throwing the body into ketosis, forcing it to burn fat rather than sugar for energy. Breakfast on the diet might consist of bacon, eggs with cheese, and a cup of heavy cream diluted with water; some children drink oil to obtain the fats that they need. Every gram of food is weighed, and carbohydrates are almost entirely restricted. Breaking the diet with so much as a few cookies can cause seizures to flare up.
For the British trial, the researchers enrolled 145 children ages 2 to 16 who had never tried the diet, who were having at least seven seizures a week and who had failed to respond to at least two anticonvulsant drugs.
One group began the ketogenic diet immediately. The control group waited three months before starting it. In the first group, 38 percent of the children had seizure rates reduced by half, compared with 6 percent in the control group. Five children in the diet group had reductions exceeding 90 percent.
Perceptions of the diet have changed sharply in the last decade. In 1993, a Hollywood producer, Jim Abrahams, took his 1-year-old son, Charlie, to Dr. John M. Freeman at the Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins, which was one of the few centers championing the diet. Within three days of starting the diet, Charlie’s incapacitating seizures, which had resisted multiple medications and surgery, stopped entirely.
With his wife, Nancy, Mr. Abrahams founded the Charlie Foundation to Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsy to promote education about the diet. He produced an instructional video for parents and a made-for-television movie, “First Do No Harm,” starring Meryl Streep as a mother who seeks out the diet for her child.
As a result of the Johns Hopkins work, research on the diet blossomed and it became a standard treatment at hospitals and epilepsy centers in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Shlomo Shinnar, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Management Center at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, called the new study “an important trial that lays to rest the issue of “˜Does it really work or not?’ ”
Although the diet has to be medically supervised, Dr. Shinnar said, it is a mistake to believe that it requires extensive hospital resources and a staff’s constant attention. “Here they don’t have this,” he said of the British trial. “This study makes it clear that this actually can be made to work in a community setting.”
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Have you ever had any publications or information published on “chemobrains”? My daughter had non-hodgkins lymphoma and as a result of her chemotherapy now has cognitive problems. She has cognitive disfunction .
Does this apply to bipolar, also? I am seeking a good diet for my husband who is 59.
So… what would the appropriate diet be for someone who has petit mal (absence) epilepsy, and who comes out as Inattentive ADD on your questionnaire?
I love pizza, various pastas, and pancakes… I have a very active lifestyle (teaching karate and playing on a competitive scenario paintball team – Warriors for Christ), so I drink some protein drinks (about 3/week) and take a really good multi vitamin and the coromega fish oil (omega3)
My quality of decision making, memory and follow thru at work, is pathetic! (I’m a computer programmer and it is jeopardizing my job!!!)
My teaching of karate lacks cohesion (I get the students what they need, but having a structure is a great challenge)
The place I perform the best, is the place that provides the most enjoyment, but has zero chance of providing an income… playing paintball – I’m very strategic and effective and almost always attentive to my surroundings…
I wish I was that way at work!
What can I do?????
You started out talking about the NY Time article on high protein, then you left that to talk about high fat…..
What kind of diet would work best for an inattentive ADD with epilepsy (petit mal)?
I have been battling seizures ever since the removal of my Brain Tumor 18 years ago. I found that anti-convulsant meds caused more Brain damage then good, by slowing down the entire process, and then the brain working overtime to compemnsate for this retardation, if you will.
Always keeping a closely watched diet and then discovering exercises through Brain Mapping I was able to re-strengthen my Brain. A few years ago I changed my diet to a high protein diet with lots of fish and eggs. Seizures are less frequent (partial simple once a month), as I continue to discover more triggers, such as MSG or other names for MSG as they hide the deadly chemical.
I have cervical Dystonia. Sugar and caffine really exasperate this condition, so I do my best to stay away from both of those ingredients. I aslo take botox in my neck for the muscle spasms. Is there something else that I should be doing as well? I really do not get a straight answer from any of my doctors.
All of the respondents would be helped with a diet very low in refined carbohydrates, vegetable oils, transfats and soy products along with fish oil supplements. The amount of fish oil must be individualized, but may be as much as 7.5-10 grams of epa+dha daily in some cases.
I am epileptic with grand/ petite mals and was born with it. It was inherited, my uncle and niece both have it. I have never had an aura or warning about when I was going to have a seizure, but with experimentation I found that excess caffine, lack of sleep and not eating right would provoke one. I took medications for many years,( I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 13 yo) but when I reached my early 30’s I decided I did not want to take the medications anymore and stopped it. I did go back to the neuroligist and have an EEG after 6 mo and still had the abnormal brainwaves. For the 1st year I had 2 seizures..1 every 6 mo. The 2nd year I had 1 seizure and so on for a number of years until I have been seizure free now for over 20 years!! I eat what I want and do favor more of a vegetable diet, tho I will eat meat when I crave it. I have learned to listen to my cravings and will eat not only meat, but also oils when I crave them and do eat a small amount of nuts daily. I have tried to find a dr or someone interested in the idea of telling your brain to stop the seizures, but have not been able to find anyone willing to investigate this idea. I would love some feedback on this…..
I would suggest checking out the book “Eat Fat Lose Fat” by Dr. Mary Enig & Sally Fallon. It addresses the issue of healthy fats and looks at the diet of traditional peoples which included saturated fats. It has case studies of individuals who have improved their health through changing their diet to ‘cleaner’ foods and by adding saturated fats!!!
also the website for the Weston A Price Foundation… http://www.westonaprice.org. Loaded with valuable, well researched and documented information.
In this book they suggest cod liver oil as opposed to fish oil, it contains vitamins A & D in addition to the omega 3’s.
I HAVE INATTENTIVE ADHD AND WOULD LIKE TO GET ON A LOW CARB DIET. MY PROBLEM IS I AM HAVING A VERY HARD TIME GETTING OFF THE CARBS. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVISE THAT MIGHT HELP MAKE IT ANY EASIER?
THANK YOU!
VERONICA
Dr. Amen,
I have read your book, “Making a Good Brain Great” and it is fabulous!! It has been life changing for our family. We have started using several of the supplements you recommend and are much more aware of what helps our brains to be healthy and what can hurt our brains. I have also enjoyed your many articles on your website. Thank you
I wanted to bring a matter to your attention for your consideration. I noticed in your book, “Making a Good Brain Great,” and especially in your article, “Seven Simple Brain Promoting Nutritional Tips,” you state that you have read many of the diet programs popular in America. You then make comments that show you only have a cursory, and flawed knowledge of the Atkins diet, which is common among people who base their opinions of the diet on hearsay.
I fear that people reading your article would take your comments as fact and would be mislead and biased against a carbohydrate restricted diet. A carbohydrate restricted diet is especially helpful for people with for insulin related disorders, such as diabetes.
If you would like to learn more about the Atkins diet so that you can present a true and educated opinion, I would recommend reading “Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution.” For a quick explanation see chapter 9 “Facts and Fallacies about the Atkins Nutritional Approach.” Especially p. 85 “Fallacy #4: The Atkins Nutritional Approach is unbalanced and deficient in basic nutrition.”
Dr. Michael R. Eades and Dr. Mary Dan Eades have also written two excellent books about the health benefits of carbohydrate restricted diets (like Atkins, they do differentiate between empty calorie sweets and nutrient dense carbohydrates such as fruits and vegetables). Their books are “Protein Power” and “The Protein Power Lifeplan.”
I hope you will be able to take the time to form an accurate opinion
Thanks!! And best wishes for a long and healthful life
Kristina Shull