Fasting has been believed since ancient times to curb seizures in epilepsy, and small patient studies in the early 1900s have revived the idea. But the reasons have remained mysterious. New research from Boston Children’s helps explain how fasting affects the brain at the molecular level. The findings could lead the way to new approaches that would avoid the need for fasting or even the ketogenic diet, which mimics some of the effects of fasting and is now sometimes used to treat epilepsy.
“This study is the first step in understanding how dietary therapies for epilepsy work,” says first author Christopher J. Yuskaitis, MD, PhD, a neurologist with the Epilepsy Center and Epilepsy Genetics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. “The mechanisms have until now been completely unknown.”
