K E TO G E N I C D I E T

A N D M E TA B O L I C T H E R A P I E S

Metabolism is a fundamental cellular process, and
metabolic dysfunction is associated with disease.

The ketogenic diet is a metabolic therapy first pub-
lished in 1921 as an effective treatment for seizures

in both children and adults, and it has been pre-
scribed to a subset of patients with epilepsy ever

since. Today there are many drugs available to

control epileptic seizures, yet this metabolic ther-
apy can stop seizures even when all medications

fail: for some patients a ketogenic diet is superior
to all known drug treatments. The ketogenic diet
was developed nearly 100 years ago because it had
been observed—for centuries—that fasting would
stop seizures. Adhering to a medically prescribed
and carefully formulated high-fat ketogenic diet
can maintain the ketone-based metabolism used
during fasting.