The Ketogenic Diet: A Treatment for Children and Others with Epilepsy

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One in five children with epilepsy has seizures that are resistant to medications. Even when seizures are fairly well under control, medication may affect children’s alertness and mental clarity, impairing their ability to learn and reach their full potential. Many parents are looking beyond currently available medications for a satisfying solution to seizure treatment. The ketogenic diet is such an answer. This rigid, mathematically calculated, doctor-supervised diet is high in fat and low in carbohydrate and protein, and strictly limits both calories and liquid intake. The diet helps to control seizures and allows many children to become both seizure-free and drug-free. This extensively updated edition covers the many advances that have been made in understanding how the diet works, how it should be used, and its future role as a treatment for children with epilepsy.