Bringing nutritional ketosis to the table as an option for healing the pediatric brain.

Our core premise is that personalized variations of a ketogenic diet are likely to benefit pediatric patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms across multiple domains. Although pediatric epilepsy is currently a well-accepted indication for a strict ketogenic diet, there is a dearth of knowledge and therefore clinical guidelines upon which to recommend nutritional ketosis for pervasive pediatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and ADHD, even when comorbid epilepsy is present. However, there are published cohort studies and current clinical trials implementing medical ketogenic therapies for cognitive impairment, psychiatric comorbidities, motor disability, and even neuroinflammation.

Not your parents' ketogenic diet - Flexibility in 2020.

This is a commentary on the details of the increasing flexibility of the original classic ketogenic diet, a well-known evidence-based treatment option for intractable epilepsy. The variety of ketogenic diet therapies (KDT) have shown similar efficacy to the classic version. Initiation protocols, outpatient diet starts, hospital teaching kitchens, premade ketogenic foods and ways to calculate and administer the diet are readily available for ketogenic professionals and their patients.

The ketogenic diet in children 3 years of age or younger: a 10-year single-center experience.

The ketogenic diet (KD) is an effective treatment option for intractable epilepsy. Here, we reviewed the last 10 years of our experience with the KD and characterized its use in patients under 3 years of age. Medical records of all patients under the age of 3 years who were treated with the ketogenic diet from April 2004 to June 2014 were retrospectively reviewed.

Gut Microbiota, the Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy.

Investigators from the Department of Pediatric Neurology at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University assessed the gut microbiome in pediatric patients with intractable non-lesional epilepsy who were treated with the ketogenic diet (KD) comparing differences between responders and non-responders over a period of 6 months.

Optimal clinical management of children receiving dietary therapies for epilepsy: Updated recommendations of the International Ketogenic Diet Study Group.

Ketogenic dietary therapies (KDTs) are established, effective nonpharmacologic treatments for intractable childhood epilepsy. For many years KDTs were implemented differently throughout the world due to lack of consistent protocols. In 2009, an expert consensus guideline for the management of children on KDT was published, focusing on topics of patient selection, pre-KDT counseling and evaluation, diet choice and attributes, implementation, supplementation, follow-up, side events, and KDT discontinuation.

The ketogenic diet in Dravet syndrome.

Dravet syndrome is an infantile epilepsy syndrome with intractable pleomorphic seizures, cognitive impairment, and a number of comorbidities including ataxia/gait abnormalities and behavioral issues. Antiseizure medications are only partially effective in controlling seizures. Secondary to the intractable epilepsy, patients are often on multiple antiseizure medications with significant accumulative neurotoxic side effects.

Optimal clinical management of children receiving the ketogenic diet: recommendations of the International Ketogenic Diet Study Group.

The ketogenic diet (KD) is an established, effective nonpharmacologic treatment for intractable childhood epilepsy. The KD is provided differently throughout the world, with occasionally significant variations in its administration. There exists a need for more standardized protocols and management recommendations for clinical and research use.

When do seizures usually improve with the ketogenic diet?

Purpose: Parents often expect immediate seizure improvement after starting the ketogenic diet (KD) for their children. The purpose of this study was to determine the typical time to seizure reduction as well as the time after which it was unlikely to be helpful in those children started on the KD.

Methods: Records of all children started on the KD at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore (n = 83) and Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago (n = 35) from November 2003 to December 2006 were examined to determine the first day in which seizures were reportedly improved.