Ketogenic Diet and Cognitive Development


Bozkır Ç., Kartal T., Çiğdem H.

Internatıonal Inborn Errors of Metabolism And Nutrition Congress, İstanbul, Turkey, 10 - 14 April 2019, pp.403-404

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • City: İstanbul
  • Country: Turkey
  • Page Numbers: pp.403-404
  • Çukurova University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Aim: The ketogenic diet (KD) is a diet rich in fats, low in from carbohydrates and simulations

the effect of starvation in the body. The KD original protocol was developed in the Mayo

Clinic in 1921 and after the 1992s, KD was gaining importance in clinical practice. The

mechanism of action of KD is still being actively investigated. The aim of this study was to

investigate the recent researches on the development of cognitive function in the treatment

of ketogenic diet.

Materials and methods: In this study, the research articles which were reached with the

keywords “ketogenic diet and cognitive effect of ketogenic diet” from the Pubmed and

Google Academic search engines on the 8th of February 15 th 2019 in Tekirdağ Namık

Kemal University internet access network were evaluated.

Results: In most of the studies, the effect of ketogenic diet(KD) on seizure control in different

types of epilepsy was evaluated, while fewer studies focused on cognitive functions.

Significant improvements have been reported in the assessment of attention of 34 epilepsy

patients aged between 1.5 and 14 years who had been given classic KD for 12 months. In

another study that included 100 cases aged between 6 months and 15 years, a 6-month

classical KD and a 62% improvement in cognitive development were found. In two different

retrospective studies of different types of epilepsy, the effect of classical KD therapy on

cognitive development was significantly improved in one study and no significant

improvement was reported in the other study. In the prospective studies of different types of

epilepsy, it has been reported that the classic KD and cognitive development are improved

by between 63% and 93%. Significant improvements have been made with classical KD in

different studies where cognitive functions are evaluated with objective scales.

Conclusion: Studies have shown that ketogenic diet therapy has positive effects on cognitive

development in different types of epilepsy. There is a need for further study on the effects of

KD treatment on cognitive development, especially in preschool and school age children.