Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/7sj8kkq1vQk   Nearly 40% of children whose seizures cannot be controlled with any medications will respond to the ketogenic diet.  This is the finding of a study from Northwestern’s Lurie Children’s Hospital.   Pediatric neurologists there studied 109 patients with seizure disorders persisting despite conventional medication management.   After going on the high fat, low carb, and protein-restricted diet that is the ketogenic diet, 42 patients enjoyed more than 50% seizure reduction and nearly half of those 42 achieved complete seizure control.  The seizure disorders most responsive to the ketogenic diet had a genetic etiology.   This excellent pediatric hospital’s successful 10 year experience with the ketogenic diet proves its medical effectiveness.  Implementing this diet isn’t easy for many parents, and success requires much support from a multi-disciplinary team including nutritionists and counselors.   Se Hee Kim, Alexandra Shaw, Robyn Blackford, Wesley Lowman, Linda C. Laux,