Dietary therapies for epilepsy in low resource settings: challenges and successes

Suvasini Sharma

doi:10.17724/jicna.2021.212

Abstract

The Ketogenic Diet (KD) is a high fat, low carbohydrate and restricted protein diet which has been used for the treatment of drug resistant epilepsy in children. It is considered the treatment of choice for refractory nonsurgical epilepsy in children. However, despite this being a very useful and relatively simple treatment, children from developing countries have not been able to benefit as much as their counterparts in more privileged settings. In this article, the challenges faced by pediatric neurologists and parents who wish to use the diet in children with refractory epilepsy are discussed, and also the simple low cost innovations which can be used to overcome these challenges are suggested. The evolution from the use of the classic ketogenic diet to the flexible use of the modified Atkins diet in low resource settings will be discussed.

Highlights

The Ketogenic Diet (KD) is a high fat, low carbohydrate and restricted protein diet which has been used for the treatment of drug resistant epilepsy in children
There has been a revival of interest in use of the KD since the 1990’s and it is considered the treatment of choice for refractory epilepsy in children which is not amenable to surgery
Perinatal brain injuries account for a high proportion of drug resistant epilepsies in children, especially epileptic encephalopathies like West syndrome, which is a common cause of refractory childhood epilepsy [7]

Summary

Introduction

The Ketogenic Diet (KD) is a high fat, low carbohydrate and restricted protein diet which has been used for the treatment of drug resistant epilepsy in children. The challenges faced by pediatric neurologists and parents who wish to use the diet in children with refractory epilepsy are discussed, and the simple low cost innovations which can be used to overcome these challenges are suggested.

Results

Conclusion