The Ketogenic Diet
The ketogenic diet has shown to help patients with an SLC6A1 diagnosis and seizure activity (Read Study) and it’s popularity is growing. The diet promotes the metabolic formation of ketone bodies by causing the body to use fat, rather than carbohydrates, as its principal energy source. New studies show that the ketogenic diet, a high-fat, calorie-restricted diet used to treat epileptic seizures in children, alters genes involved in energy metabolism in the brain, which in turn helps stabilize the function of neurons exposed to the challenges of epileptic seizures.
The updated guidelines on the ketogenic diet were released in 2018 and can be accessed here. One interesting update is that the ketogenic diet is safe and effective for infants as young as 6 weeks. For years it was thought that infants couldn’t maintain ketosis and meet growth requirements. There is now evidence to support that children are an ideal candidate for the ketogenic diet. For additional resources on the Ketogenic Diet, please see: