A meeting took place in Holland last week concerning the use of the Ketogenic Diet. The Ketogenic Diet is re-emerging as a more acceptable treatment for paediatric epilepsy as parents become more and more concerned about the effects of epilepsy drugs on their children, as well as the obvious benefits of following the Ketogenic Diet.
At this meeting we were lucky enough to meet Mr Brugt Warnar. Brugt followed the Ketogenic Diet from 1953-1957.
It all started for Brugt when he was 6 years old. After a childhood accident triggered a form of epilepsy in him, his parents took him to a doctor in Utrecht, Holland. The doctor informed his worried parents that he was “sorry” and “there was nothing we can do, your son will be like this for the rest of his life”. This was a devastating blow for Brugt’s parents but his mother did not give up hope. After much searching and researching, she discovered a centre just outside Amsterdam in the Haarlem district that specialized in paediatric epilepsy. Brugt was 9 years old when he entered the centre and was put on the Ketogenic Diet, which back then was called the “Fat Diet”.
The results were almost instantaneous, Brugt’s seizures went from nearly 20 an hour to virtually none! The biggest difference could be felt by Brugt himself as he said he could physically feel himself “getting better” and was no longer so emotional and aggressive. After 9 months of residential care at the centre, he left but continued on the diet for a further 3 years. At the age of 14 he came off the diet and hasn’t looked back since. He went on to university, got married and had two children.
As Brugt says himself, “It’s so important to find methods without medication, food gives you more control”
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Mr Warnar
The Ketogenic Diet – The 1950’s & Now