The keto diet protects against epileptic seizures. Scientists are uncovering why

The high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet is more than just a trendy weight-loss tactic. It has also been known to help control seizures in children with epilepsy, particularly those who don ’t respond to first-line anti-seizure medications.In a new UCLA study published in the journalCell Reports, researchers demonstrate that the changes the diet causes in the human gut microbiome — the trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the digestive tract — can confer protection against seizures in mice.Understanding how the function of the microbiome is altered by the diet could aid in the development of new therapeutic approaches that incorporate these beneficial changes while avoiding certain drawbacks of the diet, said the study ’s lead author, Gregory Lum, a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of UCLA professor Elaine Hsiao.The ketogenic diet is not recommended as a primary anti-seizure option because patients are often averse to drastic changes in their food intake or have trouble staying on the diet due to its strict requirements and potential side effects like, nausea, constipation and fatigue.In the hope of finding new ways to more effectively treat seizures in the approximately one-third of people with refractory epilepsy who don ’t respond to existing anti-seizure medications, Lum sought to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms behind diet’s alteration of the human gut microbiome.Previous research conducted by Hsiao ’s lab...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news