A certain diet can reduce the frequency of epilepsy seizures.
A keto diet (ketogenic diet) is a diet that contains a high amount of fat, while protein content is limited and carbohydrate content is relatively low.
With such a diet, which is calculated individually for each patient, the body is forced to use fats to replenish energy reserves. The fact is that carbohydrates are processed into glucose when ingested with food. It, in turn, nourishes the cells of the central nervous system and supports its functioning. If there are not enough carbohydrates in the diet, the liver is forced to convert fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. These ketone bodies enter the brain instead of glucose, serving as an alternative source of energy. Maintaining the state of ketosis in the body explains the clinical success of the keto diet, although the mechanism of the positive effect of the ketogenic diet on seizures in patients with epilepsy is not fully understood.
The ketogenic diet can reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures, which can result in a reduction in the dose of drugs or the number of drugs. Thanks to the keto diet, a positive effect is achieved in half of the cases, and in a third of the cases, this diet leads to good results.
Randomized clinical trials conducted in 2008 found that the use of a keto diet gives positive results in severe cases of epilepsy in children. Within 6-24 months, there is an improvement in the condition of patients in more than 90% of cases.
The ketogenic diet method was developed for patients with epilepsy, but as a result of its use, it was found that the keto diet is also effective for other disorders, such as certain types of migraines, autism, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, neoplasms, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, etc.
The diet can only be used under the supervision of a trained specialist.
In August 2016, pediatric neurologist Alla Konstantinovna Orlova will start consulting at the Dobrobut Children's Clinic in Kyiv at 21-A Drahomanova Street.
She received her medical degree from Donetsk State Medical Institute, graduating in 2001. She completed her internship in pediatric diseases and pediatric neurology at the Regional Children's Clinical Hospital, and specialized in family medicine at the Gusak Institute of Emergency and Reconstructive Surgery in Donetsk.
Since 2005, she has been employed as an assistant at the Department of General Practice and Family Medicine of M. Gorky Donetsk State Medical University. In 2009, she defended her PhD thesis under the supervision of Professor E.V. Prokhorov on blood rheology disorders and endothelial dysfunction in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. She is the author of seven scientific publications. Since 2010, she has worked as a neurologist at the Donetsk Polyclinic of the Dobrobut Medical Network, where she was one of the first in Ukraine to introduce the method of transcranial electrical stimulation in the treatment of nervous system diseases in children and adults in cooperation with the Pavlov Institute of Physiology at the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation (St. Petersburg).
Since 2012, she has been living in Stuttgart (Germany), and since 2014 she has been working at the Department of Neuropediatrics and Epileptology at Filderklinik.
She has completed certified trainings in vagus nerve stimulation (Frankfurt) and electroencephalography (Dresden), participated in pan-European scientific conferences, seminars, and symposia.
The main professional interest of the doctor is to study the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy, cerebral palsy, migraine, connective tissue diseases in children and adults. A clearly defined priority area is the treatment of drug-resistant forms of epilepsy in patients of all ages using the ketogenic diet (low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet).
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