Study Confirms Keto Still Works When Meds Fail to Prevent Seizures

Most of us know that what we consume is the bedrock of our health. But sometimes, the food we consume can impact our health in surprising ways. Specifically, going low-carb can help prevent seizures, offering relief to many who suffer from the symptoms of epilepsy. Since the 1920s, the ketogenic diet has been an effective treatment option to help epileptic patients reduce the magnitude of their symptoms.

Even though the diet has worked this way for nearly a hundred years, new scientific studies continue to expand our understanding of how much potential it has. At the December 2018 annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society, Lochan Shah, a student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, presented a paper that studied over two hundred children and the effect that the ketogenic diet had on their medicine consumption.¹ The results were striking.

But first: how keto helps prevent seizures

The ketogenic diet is all about forcing the body to switch the fuel it uses. For most people, the body gets its energy from glucose taken from carbohydrates. But when someone goes low- or no-carb, the body kicks into ketosis, the process by which your body begins relying on fat (in the form of ketones) rather than glucose to produce energy. The United Kingdom’s Epilepsy Society explains that this switch of energy sources—moving from glucose to ketones—can prevent seizures for some people.² Additionally, the Epilepsy Society adds that moving to a ketogenic diet produces a chemical called decanoic acid, which can also prevent seizures.

Keto can prevent seizures even when medicine has failed

All of this is well-known, but what Shah’s study found is that a ketogenic diet can work even where medicine has failed. Shah studied 232 children who began a ketogenic diet after beginning at least one anti-seizure drug (ASD). The diet either significantly reduced or eliminated seizures for many of the patients.  Notably, Shah reported that “Of the 232 children, 43 or 18.5%, became drug-free while on the ketogenic diet and 32 or 13.8% remained free of ASDs throughout the ketogenic diet…”

For many children, changing their diet to a ketogenic diet significantly reduced their dependence on ASDs—but even more importantly, it did so while reducing the number of seizures.  Of those who quit taking ASDs, “63% were seizure-free, 28% experienced a 90-99% drop in the number of daily seizures, and seizures were reduced by 50-90% in 9% of participants.”

Parents who are hopeful that a ketogenic diet could alleviate their child’s symptoms must be patient—the average time until patients could wean themselves from drugs was 7.5 months.  However, the promise of the ketogenic diet in treating seizures is clear.  Although Shah offers some caution until further study has been done before concluding why the ketogenic diet is effective in reducing drug usage, the potential of the diet seems to continue to grow even after a hundred years of effectiveness.  If you want to pursue keto as a treatment option, check with your doctor and see if this will work for you.

Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD

This article has been medically reviewed by Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD.

Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD is an aesthetic medicine specialist whose work focuses on patients who are treated for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and other weight-related issues through nutritional analysis, keto diet programs, and supporting medications.

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Drew Dabbs

Drew is an avid writer with an interest in politics, economics, and philosophy. When he isn't capturing his thoughts on the keyboard, he's probably hanging out with his wife and son.

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