Epilepsy in the pediatric age is a widespread pathology that causes a delay in neurological development with a sudden loss of control of one’s own body. The ketogenic diet is, as extensively documented, an effective therapeutic alternative with improvements in clinical symptoms including the frequency of seizures.

One of the hypotheses about its mechanism of action is that such diet has effects on the intestinal microbiota modifying its components and reducing the imbalance in favor of beneficial strains such as Bifidobacterium.

In a recent study, a ketogenic diet was administered for one week to 14 pediatric patients with refractory epilepsy and 30 infants  with no symptoms of the disease. The composition of the species that make up the intestinal microbiota in healthy children and those affected by epilepsy has been evaluated and the results have shown the improvement of the imbalance of the intestinal microbiota of epileptic children following the ketogenic diet. In particular, a significant decrease was observed in Cronobacter, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes

After a week of ketogenic diet, 3 children had disappeared from epileptic seizures, 6 had a reduction in seizures from 50% to 90% while the remaining 5 did not significantly improve.

This study revealed that the ketogenic diet can mitigate epilepsy symptoms and correct an unbalanced intestinal microbiota in epileptic infants.

In conclusion, the intestinal microbiota in healthy children differs considerably from that of the epileptic group. The ketogenic diet can significantly change the symptoms of epilepsy and rebalance the microbiota of epileptic children.

Xie, Gan, et al. “Ketogenic diet poses a significant effect on imbalanced gut microbiota in infants with refractory epilepsy.” World journal of gastroenterology 23.33 (2017): 6164.