Will seizure control improve by switching from the modified Atkins diet to the traditional ketogenic diet?

Abstract

It has been reported that children can maintain seizure control when the ketogenic diet (KD) is transitioned to the less-restrictive modified Atkins diet (MAD). What is unknown, however, is the likelihood of additional seizure control from a switch from the MAD to the KD. Retrospective information was obtained from 27 patients who made this dietary change from four different institutions. Ten (37%) patients had ≥10% additional seizure reduction with the KD over the MAD, of which five became seizure-free. The five children who did not improve on the MAD failed to improve when transitioned to the KD. A higher incidence of improvement with the KD occurred for those with myoclonic-astatic epilepsy (70% vs. 12% for all other etiologies, p = 0.004), including all who became seizure-free. These results suggest that the KD probably represents a "higher dose" of dietary therapy than the MAD, which may particularly benefit those with myoclonic-astatic epilepsy. © 2010 International League Against Epilepsy.