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BOSTON, Dec 09, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study announced Tuesday indicates the Atkins diet may help reduce the number of epileptic seizures suffered by children.
The limited study involved six patients, including three 12 years old and younger, After being on the Atkins regimen for at least four months, two children and one young adult were seizure-free and were able to reduce their use of anti-convulsant medications.
The findings were presented Tuesday during an American Epilepsy Society meeting in Boston.
The study also showed seizure control could be long-lasting on the diet, with the three patients continuing to be seizure-free for as long as 20 months.
The researchers caution, however, because of the small number of study subjects, their findings should not lead to the Atkins diet's routine use in children with epilepsy.
Nor, they said, should the Atkins diet be used to replace the ketogenic, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, already proven to reduce or eliminate difficult-to-control seizures in some patients.
Hopkins researchers said a larger clinical study of 20 children with epilepsy began in September.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
