Ketogenic Diet
Ketogenic Diet is eighty years old diet is supposed to be very high in fat, low in carbohydrate, and low in protein that relies on inducing process of ketosis. Ketogenic diet makes the body burn fat for energy instead of glucose. This diet gets its name because it produces ketones by the breakdown of fatty acids. This diet provides about 4 grams of fat for every one gram of carbohydrate and protein combined. Its most common use is the treatment of epilepsy. This diet may consist of 88 percent fat, 10 percent protein, and 2 percent carbohydrate. It commonly involves long chain of triglycerides, which are present in high-triglyceride dairy products i.e. whole cream, butter, peanut butter, mayonnaise, and fatty meals. This fat heavy food becomes body’s primary source of metabolism. Ketones accumulate in the brain and consequently alleviate epileptic symptoms. Carbohydrates found in bread are eliminated. Moreover, liquid, and calorie intake is restricted to aid ketonic process. The research has shown that the diet helps two out of three children who are tried on it and may prevent seizures completely in one out of three. Research shows that this diet is more effective in children than adults. This ketogenic diet is more restrictive for adults.
It is a strict diet, and takes a strong commitment from the whole family. This diet is undertaken under the supervision of a nutritionist, having experience in this process. The children with medically intractable epilepsy and whose diet can be controlled are commonly administered this diet. The patient must be administered sugar free vitamins and minerals such as calcium, vitamin D, iron, folic acid. Its potential side effects are lethargy, thinning of hair, weight loss, stones in the kidney, dehydration, abnormal liver function, bone thinning, and possibly cardiac problem. This diet should not be administered to children having metabolic disorder. This diet has proved to be helpful in control of seizures. Study shows that 50 percent patients can hope to achieve full control of seizures, 25 percent some improvement, and 25 percent no improvement. It the diet is well tolerated and gives good results, it may be administered till about two years. After the treatment, take due care and patient must gradually adopt regular meals.
John Hopkins conducted a study and it was revealed that patients that started Ketonic Diet, fifty percent or more reported a decrease in seizures, 29 percent reported a reduction of of 90 percent in symptoms. It has been estimated that success rate of Anti-convulsants and Ketogenic diet are almost the same but effects vary on different segments of population groups.
Out of those whose improved on this disease, approximately half of the patients showed improvement with anti-convulsanta and half of them improved because of this diet. It is reported that in some case the epilepsy drug faile but Ketogenic diet brought improvement and similarly in case where the diet did not show any progress, there the drug was the cause of improvement. It has been observed that where the diet worked, it often showed rapid and dramatic results. Inspite of this Ketogenic Diet has not been videly adopted by the doctors because of some concerns. It is difficult for many patients to adhere to the diet as suggested. It is feared that this diet may be lacking in proper nutrition. Somr doctors prefer to try anti-convulsants prior to adoping this diet. Need of a dietitian to help manage this diet for children also leads to hesitation on adoption of Ketogenic diet.
A study by four promiment doctos concluded that this ketogenic diet is also not without adverse effects. Study was conducted on 129 patients and verying quanrum of side effects were noticed like dehydration, diarrhea, nausia, vomiting, and constipation. Moreover, one person with cardiomyopathy, one with lipoid pneumonia, and two with sepsis died while on this diet. It has been found that the diet of Inuit i.e. peple living in Arctic region, is very similar to Ketogenic diet. This Inuit diet contains about 16 percent protein and remainder is fat. Inuit people consume raw meat and internal organs of animals. These internal organs are an excellent source of vitamins. Just for comparison, one medium sized orange contains 50 mg Vitamin C, while 100 gram of raw calf liver contains 36 mg Vitamin C. Children on this diet need special attention as they are unable to follow the instructions. Food consumption may take up to two hours for the child and you must stay with him to finish the full meal. When a child switches from a normal diet to a 90 percent fat diet, both cholesterol and triglyceride levels can go up. But when they are taken off this diet, both levels revert back to normal.
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