Dietary treatments for epilepsy

Dietary treatments for epilepsy have been around for over a hundred years.

There are a number of similar ketogenic diets that are used, but all are based on the same principle of using a controlled diet to enable the body to produce ketones – a chemical that reduces seizures.

The principles of the ketogenic diet are:

  • High fat
  • Low carbohydrate
  • Controlled protein

This diet is not effective for everyone, but for some it may result in an improvement in seizures, with fewer side effects than other treatments.

Download our ketogenic diet factsheet

NB Young Epilepsy are currently reviewing our information portfolio which will be updated in October 2023.

Also in this section

More information about epilepsy

Epileptic seizures

An epileptic seizure happens because of a disruption of the electrical activity in the brain.

Epilepsy syndromes

A syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms which, if they occur together, can suggest a particular condition

Epilepsy & contraception

It is important that all teenagers are given information about the effects of AEDs on contraception and pregnancy before they become sexually active