First Do No Harm: Ketogenic Diet :Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease & Epilepsy!

Ketogenic Diet: over 100 years of history and first used in very young children.

Dr. David Unwin was worried about the abnormal liver function of a lady patient he referred her to some specialists in the Hospital and she was seen by a hepatologist and two gastroenterologists (I did wonder why!). 

They all thought that she was drinking too much and the poor lady was very upset because she really really never touch any alcohol all her life and yet she was being told off by the specialists as they all assumed that her abnormal liver function tests were due simply to alcohol! 

Then when she eventually gave up sugar and carbs, the liver function improved dramatically. It was such a relief for her and for Dr. Unwin who reckoned that the specialists had something to learn because all they did was to worry and humiliate her when the treatment could be so simple. A high percent of adults in Britain and other western countries suffered from such Non  Alcoholic Fatty Liver Syndrome.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEYtRiPKBVA&t=10s

Many are worried about Ketogenic Diet and yet it has over a hundred years of history for the treatment of Epilepsy in very young children that did not respond to a multitude of established medications. Dr. Unwin's experience with T2 Diabetes and now NAFLD is simply carrying on the first principle of medicine: Do No Harm.

Dr. David Urwin:

Dr. David Unwin is GP based in Southport in the United Kingdom. After 25 years of attempting to treat diabetes by conventional methods, Dr. Unwin was introduced to low carb nutrition through one of his patients and the website www.diabetes.co.uk

From this revelation, Dr. Unwin now ignores official advice and treats his patients with a low-carbohydrate diet. Since adopting the approach, his practice now spends £50,000 less each year on drugs for diabetes than is average for his area. Dr. Unwin is the RCGP National Champion for Collaborative Care and Support Planning in Obesity & Diabetes, as well as a Clinical Expert in diabetes. In 2015 he won the North West NHS ‘Innovator of the Year Award’ and in 2016 he won the National NHS 'Innovator of the Year Award' for his work in treating diabetes with a low carbohydrate approach.

More from Dr. Unwin:

“It’s not just about diabetes; belly fat matters.”

Up to 20% of the developed world now has a condition described as Fatty Liver Disease. This is split into alcoholic and Non-alcoholic Steatotic Hepatitis (NASH). The latter is in large part obesity related. In this way I worry that excess sugar and starchy carbs are leading to the three great modern epidemics; diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver disease. In 2008 The World Health Organization concluded there was convincing evidence that central obesity (defined as waist greater than 80 cms in women or 94 cms in men) was associated with significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, colorectal and breast cancer and overall mortality.

The good news is that I have often seen a low carb approach help not just Type 2 Diabetes but also liver function, blood pressure, lipid profiles (particularly triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels), and central obesity.

Link: https://www.lowcarbtogether.com/science/who-benefits-from-a-low-carb-lifestyle/

History: https://www.lchf-rd.com/2021/02/18/a-ketogenic-diet-was-used-first-in-diabetes-then-epilepsy/

On July 27, 1921, the Mayo Clinic’s Russell Wilder, M.D., first uses the term “ketogenic diet” to describe and propose a nutritional treatment for epilepsy that tricks the body into believing it is fasting. With 70%–90% of calories from fat and very limited amounts of carbohydrates and protein, the body becomes deprived of glucose and begins breaking down fat cells for energy. Wilder believes the diet could be just as effective as fasting in treating epilepsy. His colleagues at the Mayo Clinic test the theory on both children and adults with epilepsy and find it works. The keto diet is widely used after that by other institutions, including Johns Hopkins.

Charlie and his family seek care at Johns Hopkins

Charlie Abrahams, a 20-month-old patient with epilepsy and the son of noted film writer/producer/director Jim Abrahams (Airplane!, Top Secret! and The Naked Gun series), is admitted to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center after many epilepsy treatments and surgeries tried on him had failed. Within days of going on ketogenic diet therapy, his seizures completely stop. The Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies is founded by his parents to raise public and clinician awareness, promote scientific studies and provide research funding for the treatment. 

First Do No Harm is a 1997 American made-for-television drama film directed by Jim Abrahams about a boy whose severe epilepsy, unresponsive to medications with terrible side effects, is controlled by the ketogenic diet. Aspects of the story mirror Abrahams' own experience with his son Charlie.

Cockroach Catcher-Seven Minute Cure

Link: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/epilepsy/keto-diet-timeline.html