The Unconventional Effects of the Ketogenic Diet (KD) in Preclinical Epilepsy

Abstract

The integration of metabolic therapeutics in the available clinical armory is becoming more commonplace in health care as our understanding about the dependence of disease on metabolism continues to deepen and evolve. In the epilepsy field, we often think about the ketogenic diet (KD, high fat: carbohydrate ratio) in terms of its anti-seizure efficacy. The aim of this article is to review what we’ve learned from preclinical studies about the KD’s more unconventional effects, including its neuroprotective effects, anti-epileptogenic and disease-modifying effects, and how the KD influences comorbidities associated with epilepsy. As time moves us into the future and metabolic therapies become more common place, the effects of the KD considered unconventional herein, may end up being referred to as traditional.