Premium
Growth of children on the ketogenic diet
Author(s) -
Vining Eileen P G,
Pyzik Paula,
McGrogan Jane,
Hladky Heather,
Anand Akash,
Kriegler Steven,
Freeman John M
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
developmental medicine and child neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.658
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1469-8749
pISSN - 0012-1622
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2002.tb00769.x
Subject(s) - ketogenic diet , medicine , pediatrics , cohort , prospective cohort study , zoology , demography , epilepsy , biology , psychiatry , sociology
This is a prospective cohort study of 237 children (130 males, 107 females) placed on the ketogenic diet for control of intractable epilepsy (mean age at starting diet 3 years 8 months; age range 2 months to 9 years 10 months); average length of follow‐up was 308 days. There were 133 children on the diet at 1 year and 76 at 2 years. Height and weight measurements were converted into age‐ and sex‐appropriate z scores. There was a rapid drop in weight z scores in the first 3 months. After this initial period, the weight z score remained constant in children who started the diet below the median weight for their age and sex, although z scores continued to decrease in children starting above the median. There was a small decrease in height z scores in the first 6 months (<0.5); however, there were larger changes by 2 years. There was no difference based on sex for either height or weight. The ketogenic diet generally provides sufficient nutrition to maintain growth within normal parameters over a defined period. Very young children grow poorly on the diet and should be followed‐up carefully over long periods of use.