The ketogenic diet popular with Hollywood celebrities like Kendra Wilkinson and Kim Kardashian that dramatically drops weight can help treat hard-to-treat forms of epilepsy, according to a new study

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carb diet that has helped those with epilepsy whose medications don't work as well as they do on others, said medical website WebMD.

Like Us on Facebook

"We need new treatments for the 35 percent of people with epilepsy whose seizures are not stopped by medications. The ketogenic diet is often used in children, but little research has been done on how effective it is in adults," said study co-author Dr. Pavel Klein.

Researchers included 47 persons on the ketogenic diet. The diet consists of a ratio of fat to protein/carbohydrate of three or four to one.

The Atkins diet was also analyzed and tested among 85 participants. It has a one-to-one fat to protein/carbohydrate ratio by weight.

The study discovered that 32 percent of the patients that used the ketogenic diet and the 29 percent on the modified Atkins diet experienced a reduction in their seizures by 50 percent or more.

A 10-year-old boy Jackson Small has had freequent seizure, but after he underwent a ketogenic diet in which he consumed 90% fat, he became seizure-free for two years.

In addition to its weight loss benefits, ketosis can control epileptic seizures in both children and adults. Small began having seizures at age seven and eventually suffered up to 30 seizures a day because of his juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

The results of both diets are visible within days to weeks and its effects persist long-term.

TagsKetogenic diet, Low-carb high-fat diet, epilepsy, Weight Loss, weight loss diet, Epileptic Seizure