Dr. Freeman wonders why children are exposed to every drug in the pharmacy often with awful side effects which interfere with physical function, thinking and learning instead of turning to this diet. The tenacity and persistence of one woman at Johns Hopkins kept ketogenic diet research alive as she worked on perfecting the diet over a period of 40 years. She says the diet works by stimulating a state of fasting in the body. One of the hallmarks of a fasting body is the presence of uric acid or ketones in the urine created by a state of ketosis. No one knows why this controls seizures, but it does.
Children do well on the diet, growing strong and healthy with normal cholesterol levels.
Jim Abrams, a California film producer, had a son with severe intractable seizures who is now seizure-free as a result of the diet. The Abrams were actively discouraged from trying the diet by their neurological pediatrician even though countless drugs and brain surgery failed to decrease the seizures. When they tried the ketogenic diet, the seizures immediately stopped. Most doctors believe the diet is too difficult to follow and so actively discourage parents who want to try it. Cindy Arceneaux of Fort Worth explains that she didn't think much about the foggy looking air in the aisles of the store when she popped in for a quick shopping trip late one night in August.