Usefulness of liquid ketogenic milk for intractable childhood epilepsy

Abstract

Background & aims To evaluate the usefulness of a liquid ketogenic milk in the treatment of intractable childhood epilepsy.

Methods We used liquid ketogenic milk, which is comprised of mainly olive oil and soybeans, and has a lipid to non-lipid ratio of 4:1. Prospective study evaluated outcomes in 28 children with intractable epilepsy who were supplemented with liquid ketogenic milk for at least three months during conventional ketogenic diet. The calories of the milk occupied over 50% of the total calories. Primary outcome measures included usefulness of the milk, tolerability, caretakers’ convenience and complications. Secondarily, seizure outcomes after diet therapy were evaluated.

Results All patients obtained normal weight and height gain and natural increase of bone densitometry index according to increasing ages. There were no serious complications. It was well tolerated in most 85.7% (24/28) of the patients and especially, convenience of its preparation was reported in all caretakers. 57.1% (16/28) of the patients showed a ≥90% reduction in seizure frequency. Most of the patients (85.7%) wanted to continue to use liquid ketogenic milk.

Conclusion We believe that the liquid ketogenic milk is useful formula to increase tolerability and widen application of the diet therapy in children with intractable epilepsy.