For those who say that keto is a fad diet, I say do some research! The medical community used Keto for decades to assist with those (particularly children) who have seizures. It’s a well known fact. However, when I said this the other day, someone asked me why keto helps epilepsy, and I wasn’t quite sure. Sounds like a good idea for a blog!
How Did We Find Out Keto Helps Epilepsy
For thousands of years, the medical community has used fasting to help with conditions and diseases. When all else fails, they suggest we fast. So, when people experienced ongoing seizure activity, they found that fasting helped. When their patients fasted, they didn’t have seizures. However, we do have to eat sometime or there is that nasty side effect of death. But, the medical community found that keto offers many of the same benefits of fasting, while still taking in food which we need to live.
The Story of How They Found that Keto Helps Epilepsy
In 1915, the John Hopkins Children Hospital studied why fasting helped epilepsy in children. Again, the children did have to eat eventually, and that seemed to take them right back to seizures. So, in 1921, the Mayo Clinic researched the keto diet as a treatment for epilepsy. In 1936, they started a long-term study. Over 33,000 patients with epilepsy went on the keto diet as a treatment for their condition. They wrote the final report in 1977. It found that 54% of those patients were free of seizures. An additional 26% showed improvement from their seizures. That’s 80% of the patients benefiting from keto.
In 1993, the 20 month old Charlie Abrahams was in John Hopkins Children Hospital due to uncontrolled epilepsy. The traditional medications were not working for him. His dad was looking in the library at the hospital, and found the research on keto helping with seizures. He took it to the doctors, and they figured it couldn’t hurt to try it at this point. Within days of starting keto, Charlie’s seizures stopped. Charlie’s dad is the famous director, Jim Abrahams. There was, unsurprisingly, a movie made about this called First Do No Harm.
Why Keto Helps Epilepsy
The simple answer is: we don’t know. We know that carbs and glucose can increase the excitability of the brain, while high fat decreases it. We know that because keto is a high fat, low carb diet, the brain isn’t as likely to become excited and cause seizures. But why? We don’t know. But, we do know that it works for many people.
So, I guess I wasn’t wrong when I didn’t know the answer as to why keto helps epilepsy. It just offers the same benefits as fasting, but you get to eat so you can do it long-term. It still isn’t often used when medications work, but when it is, it seems to offer a lot of positives. Which leads me to my next question.
Why Don’t We Just Use Keto?
Society is very dependent on medication. I’m not judging here, I’m on medication too. Decades ago, I would have just had to suffer through my anxiety and cope the best way I could. Today, there is medication available, and I take it. I’ve tried going the holistic route, and it sucked. I’m not opposed to medication. But, what about when the medication isn’t working well, or if people want to focus on diet rather than medication?
Keto is a long-term commitment. You can’t just give it up one day and have everything stay the same. That’s why I get upset when I hear people say it’s a fad diet. You are changing how your body works. It’s important to be very conscious about that decision when you start and if you stop. So, it’s definitely not just an easy fix for epilepsy. It is much easier to take a pill, if that works for you.
With keto, you have to completely change how you eat. That can be a very good thing – it was for us. But would we have turned to keto if Bill had the option to just take a pill that wouldn’t ruin his life in the long term? In all honesty, probably not. Looking back, I’m very glad we went with keto. Our lives have definitely changed for the better. But, it was a huge adjustment and we knew it was forever.
