Ketogenic diets pie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The ketogenic diet is a high fat, low-carbohydrate and adequate protein diet, which was originally developed to treat epileptic individuals (see my previous posts about the use of the diet for epilepsy and the mechanisms of action of the diet). The diet produces remarkable  results on subjects suffering from intractable seizures but also revealed quite useful for a variety of other conditions, such as narcolepsy and autism and shows promises for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis, migraine headache, depression and type-2 diabetes (see my post on the use of ketogenic diet beyond epilepsy).

However, the ketogenic diet has been described as too strict and unpalatable, leading some patients to drop from the treatment. For this reason, variations of the diet have been considered to treat epilepsy. Positive results with modified versions of the Ketogenic diet have been reported for epilepsy, daily headaches, narcolepsy and weight loss.

Classic Ketogenic Diet

The classic ketogenic diet typically incorporates 3 or 4 times more fat than carbohydrates and proteins combined. Carbohydrates are limited to 5-10 g a day. Sources of fat are generally long-chain triglycerides or LCT (most oils commonly consumed are LCT). Food and drinks need to be carefully weighted and measured. Water intake used to be restricted but new guidelines suggest that not restricting water intake can solve problems related to the formation of kidney stones.

Example of recipe on the classic ketogenic diet: (from The Charlie Foundation)

Chicken & Cabbage Soup, 397 Calories, 7.35g Protein, 2.5g Carbohydrate

100g chicken broth
30g raw green cabbage, shredded
5g raw onion, diced small
1g raw garlic, diced fine
20g cooked chicken breast, diced
15g butter
15g olive oil
15g mayonnaise
salt & white pepper

Add the butter and olive oil to a small pot.  Over medium low heat, melt the butter.  Add the cabbage, onions and garlic to the butter and oil.  Sautee until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the broth and chicken to the vegetables.  Cover and let the soup simmer over low heat until the vegetables are very soft. Remove the pot from the heat and add the mayonnaise.Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

Medium-Chain Triglyceride diet (MCT)

The Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) diet was developed in the 70′ as a way to make the ketogenic diet easier to follow.  Medium-chain triglyceride produce more ketones per gram than long-chain triglycerides and therefore are required in lesser amount than LCT to achieve efficient ketogenesis. This property allows for more flexibility with proteins and carbohydrates. Rich sources of MCTs include palm kernel oil, coconut oil and camphor tree drupes. Since MCT oil does not supply essential fatty acids (essential fats are long or very long chain), other fat sources must be included in the diet.

Example of recipe on the MCT diet: (from Matthews Friends)

Garlic Chicken

Chicken
Roast potatoes
MCT Oil, butter and mayonnaise
Broccoli , cauliflower and mushrooms
Pinch of Garlic and black pepper

Fry the chicken in garlic and butter until browned. Make a sauce with MCT Oil and black pepper and mushrooms. Serve with roast potatoes , broccoli and cauliflower.

Modified Atkins (MA) diet