Nutrition, exercise and plasticity Q & A
Q: I
understand that you also study MS in kids. I have
MS and have heard that a "starvation" diet sometimes
works well for MS, but I haven't tried it. Have you
tried the ketogenic diet on kids with MS? Or are there
any dietary recommendations for children of parents with
MS so they don't get it?
Dr. Kati Wambera:
A: The
ketogenic diet has never been tried in MS either in people or
in animals. The disease is so different in epilepsy vs in
MS that I would doubt that it would have a similar effect.
I would not recommend a dietary change in the children of
people with MS.
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Q: Does
the ketogenic diet work in adults with brain tumours?
Dr. Kati Wambera:
A: The
ketogenic diet has only been used in animal research in
the context of brain tumours. It has never been tried in
humans, adults or children. It is likely that when human
research trials they will begin in children, where Dr.s
have the most experience with the ketogenic diet.
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Q: How
do you taper off the ketogenic diet? is it slowly
adding more sugars?
Dr. Kati Wambera:
A: We
slowly decrease the total amount of fat to the combined
carbohydrate and protein, say from a 4:1 fat: carb/protein
to 3:1 fat: carb/protein
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Q: Why
does the ketogenic diet work better in children until 12
years of age? Why doesn't it work in adults?
Dr. Kati Wambera:
A: We
don't know why it works differently at different ages, predominantly
because we don't really know how it works at all. It may
be that the adult body reacts differently. Once the ketogenic
diet becomes more main stream in pediatric epilepsy, I suspect
there will be more pressure to try it again in adults.
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Q: Since
it was found that malignant tumours don't like ketones,
why don't we start using the ketogenic diet as a treatment
for some brain tumours instead of surgery? The diet
would be less risky.
Dr. Kati Wambera:
A: That
was purely 'cutting' edge animal research. We don't know
how tumours would react in humans. I suspect that we will
see nterest in human research in this area in the near future.
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Q: Does
the Atkins diet have similar affects as the ketogenic diet? does our body mimic starvation?
Dr. Kati Wambera:
A: The
ketogenic diet is like Atkin +++, they work in very similar
ways, but the Atkins diet is less extreme. Some epilepsy centres
suggest that their patients start on the Atkin's diet
while they are on the waitlist for the ketogenic diet.
It has not been shown to be as effective as the ketogenic
diet
