Combining low-carb diets and medication significantly reduces seizures in epilepsy patients

MINNEAPOLIS — Following a low-carb, high-fat modified Atkins diet alongside medication may reduce seizures in those with difficult-to-treat cases of epilepsy.

“For people with drug-resistant epilepsy, or those who have been unable to find effective treatment to reduce seizures, it’s encouraging to see that there are lifestyle changes that can be combined with standard drug therapy to reduce the number of seizures,” says study author Manjari Tripathi, MD, DM, of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in a media release. “Our study found that this combination may reduce the chance of seizures by more than half.”

The modified Atkins diet combines components of both the full Atkins diet and a ketogenic diet. It includes plant protein like soy products, fats like heavy cream, butter, and oils, leafy green vegetables, and animal protein like eggs, chicken, and fish. Currently, there’s evidence pointing to the ketogenic diet as an effective nutritional therapy for seizures. However, since the diet can be restrictive, it becomes difficult to follow long-term.

The researchers recruited 160 adults and adolescents who had epilepsy for over 10 years on average and had at least 27 seizures per month despite trying an average of four anti-seizure medications at the maximum dose. Researchers randomly assigned them to receive either drug therapy alone or in addition to a modified Atkins diet.

Over six months, the participants logged their seizures and meals, and were…