When glucose is limited, it switches from using glucose to using ketone bodies, a by-product of fat metabolism. As ketone bodies are more difficult to turn into energy, this switch in metabolism causes neurons to build more cell engines, or mitochondria.
This increase in number of mitochondria has a stabilizing effect on neurons. This, in turn, prevents neurons from going into an over-excitatory mode, a condition that can cause seizures. Wilders, M.D., from Mayo Clinic invented the ketogenic diet in the 1920s. The diet was primarily used to treat seizures in pediatric patients. It (...)