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Dietary Therapies

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Epilepsy Board Review
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Abstract

The ketogenic diet (KD) is a nonpharmacologic treatment option for intractable epilepsy that is offered at numerous epilepsy centers. The use of dietary manipulation as treatment for seizures occurred in ancient Greek times, but later lost favor against pharmacological interventions. In recent decades, there has been increasing patient and parent interest, and an increasing body of research on underlying mechanisms, outcomes, expanding indications, and other aspects of dietary therapies.

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Further Reading

  • Lee PR, Kossoff EH. Dietary treatments for epilepsy: Management guidelines for the general practitioner. Epilepsy and Behavior 2011; 21:115–121.

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  • Nangia S, Caraballo RH, Kang HC, Nordli DR, Scheffer IE. Is the ketogenic diet effective in specific epilepsy syndromes? Epilepsy Research 2012; 100:252–257.

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  • Levy RG, Cooper PN, Giri P, Pulman J. Ketogenic diet and other dietary treatments for epilepsy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 3. Art No:CD001903.

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Correspondence to Amy Kao .

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Kao, A. (2017). Dietary Therapies. In: Koubeissi, M., Azar, N. (eds) Epilepsy Board Review. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6774-2_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6774-2_18

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6772-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6774-2

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