Los Angeles ? The first clinical trial of a ketogenic diet – high in fats and low in carbohydrates and protein – to treat epilepsy has shown that it sharply curtails seizures and is an effective tool for managing children who are resistant to anti-epilepsy drugs.

The diet mimics the effects of starvation and induces the body to produce chemicals called ketone bodies rather than glucose as an energy source for the brain. Researchers are not sure why ketone bodies appear to reduce seizures.

The diet, which has four times as many calories from fats as from carbohydrates and protein, was developed in the early 1900s when the only treatments available for seizures were harsh and ineffective drugs, such as phenobarbital and potassium bromide.

The diet fell out of use with the development of more effective and gentler epilepsy drugs, but interest was renewed in the 1990s with publicity surrounding Hollywood producer Jim Abrahams’ son, whose severe epilepsy was effectively controlled by the diet.