NeuroTalk Support Groups - Medscape: Intractable Epilepsy and Nutritional Deficiency

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jun 13 - Nutrient intake in young children with poorly controlled seizure disorders is often below recommended levels, researchers report.
Dr. Stella L. Volpe, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a nutritional analysis comparing 43 children with intractable epilepsy with 1,718 healthy children between 1 and 8 years of age in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2001 and 2002.
Intractable epilepsy was defined as one or more seizures every month despite treatment with at least three antiepileptic agents. The mean age of the study group was 4.7 years.
The investigators divided the children into two age groups -- those between 1 and 3.9 years of age and those between 4 and 8.9 years of age -- to correspond with Dietary Reference Intakes.
As reported in the June issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, children with epilepsy overall had significantly lower intakes of total energy, protein, carbohydrates, fat, dietary fiber, and multiple vitamins and minerals, compared with healthy children.
The team found that 30% of the children with seizures had lower-than-recommended intakes of vitamins D, E and K, folate, calcium, linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid. Younger children had lower levels of micronutrients than older children.
Dr. Volpe and colleagues say their study "suggests that health care professionals caring for children with intractable epilepsy should be aware of this pattern of decreased nutrient intake and educate families to provide an adequate diet and/or consider vitamin/mineral supplementation."
J Am Diet Assoc 2007;107:1014-1018.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/558188?src=mp