Diet giving fresh hope to epilepsy patients

Alfred Health senior dietitian Neha Kaul said the treatments, used for patients who haven’t responded to medication, follow high fat, low carbohydrate meal plans, commonly known as the ketogenic diet.

“The diet centres around a high fat intake, which changes the way the brain is fuelled,” she said.

“The high fat, low carb approach triggers ketosis, prompting the brain to use ketones as its main fuel source, which creates energy more efficiently and helps reduce seizures.”

The diet consists of lean protein, low starch salads and vegetables and added fats, such as olive oil and avocado, plus a number of other foods that promote good brain and heart health.

The clinic was established in 2019 and has since expanded to three locations, producing significant results.

“Thirty-six percent of our patients have experienced a reduction in seizures since starting the treatment and of those about 10-15 percent are actually seizure-free, which is significant given they hadn’t responded to medications previously,” Ms Kaul said.

“On top of that many of our patients are reporting other benefits, such as having more energy, better concentration, weight loss and just feeling better overall.”

Ms Kaul said the clinic initially had a handful of patients from doctor referrals but has significantly expanded, with over 180 referrals received from centres across Australia.

“We’ve been able to grow the clinic to three locations at The Alfred, Sandringham and Caulfield,” she said.

“With the advent of Telehealth we’re able to regularly check in with our patients, monitor their progress and check that they’ve been able to keep up with their planned diet.”

“Dietary therapy for epilepsy services have been limited to children, but there’s a clear need for more specialist multidisciplinary clinics to support adults with epilepsy to access dietary treatments.”