Keto and Down Syndrome/Special needs


(Linda Culbreth) #1

Does anybody know of any scientific studies regarding Keto WOE and Down’s syndrome or other special needs children and/ or adults? I would love to hear some n=1 results as well.


(Kristin Rogers) #2

Following…

I am starting to shift my daughter to low carb - she has Autism. Mostly I’ve seen speculation, don’t know if there are studies.
I figure everyone’s brain works better on keto, and if we just got rid of “hangry” as a source of meltdowns we’d be doing well.


(Linda Culbreth) #3

Kirstan - please post your progress here. Thank you for answering.


(Lisa Stephens) #4

Our son has high functioning autism and is keto. He is doing great! He is even socializing more, which is so wonderful. He’s slimmed down, and is in many different sports in Special Olympics. His endurance is even better. :heart:


(Linda Culbreth) #5

So glad he’s doing great! When he start keto and how did that come about?


(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #6

I’d love to get my little brother on keto. He has Prader-Willi syndrome, though thankfully well controlled. He was recently diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and I was able to keep him off statins by educating my family.

I KNOW the ketogenic diet would help him, but the kitchen that serves the group home where he lives doesn’t have a clue about low carb nutrition.


(Linda Culbreth) #7

Brenda - that change in diet at a group home would probably have to come from his doctor. Thanks for chiming in.keep us posted, please.


(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #8

We discussed it with his doc. Doc isn’t very helpful :frowning:


(Linda Culbreth) #9

So sorry. No surprize there! I hope I leave long enough for LCHF/Keto to become the mainstream in medical care!


(Linda Culbreth) #10

I meant to say live long enough, not leave.


(jay) #11

Wow, Brenda you are the second person in a month to have personal experience with Prader-Willi syndrome. I was contacted by a friend who was asking about my niece, she has RTS, Rubenstein-taybi syndrome and she was intersted to her progress and response to keto. I did my best to explain what keto entails and some of my sister’s travails and successes in moving her to keto. During our discussion she told me of her friends daughter with P-W which is what drove her interest…sister we live in a very small world.


#12

I’ve been a Speech Language Pathologist for 38 years and have seen some DRAMATIC results with LCHF diets for children with autism. Look at the movie on Netflix called The Magic Pill. Follows a girl with autism and shows the changes once on LCHF.

You don’t really know simple carb addiction until you’ve known a child with autism.


(mykittashi) #13

Do you have any tips on how you made the transition? My non-scale victory for today was getting my son excited about keto hot cocoa (I make it more like drinking chocolate). Anyway, my HFA/ADHD/Sensory son is a carb addict. I’m contemplating cold turkey, but not sure I’m prepared to take that on!


#14

I’m self diagnosed high functioning and alexithymic.

Keto is great and finding this site sent me on the adventure of fasting. I did a 21 day fast to reset my physical and mental health, my new baseline is an amazing improvement upon my traits and experiences.

Obviously everyone’s experience will vary.

Autism is a neurological condition that does not change over time, though the expression of traits is absolutely altered by diet. I’ve never felt better.


(Lisa Stephens) #15

Hi!
We converted him over the course of a month or so. We slowly stopped buying the junk foods and made more whole foods. It helped a lot. My youngest got really bad keto flu(sugar detox) but my oldest (ASD) did great!


(Camille Yeager) #16

Hi, my son (1 yo) has Spina Bifida, which is going to affect his mobility, I’m so glad we’ll be raising him on keto, so he won’t have the complications of metabolic issues on top of that!


(Linda Culbreth) #17

Camille - I pray blessings over you and your little one. I believe the keto journey will make your journey easier,even though I have no proof of that whatsoever. I know of at least one other person with a Spina Bifida child who taught them sign language to help in their communication skills (which were very poor,initially). This was way before keto days.


(Janet) #18

The Charlie Foundation has some evidence with Autism.


You might ask on their FB page for more personal experiences. They also now use five versions of a Ketogenic Diet, so it does not have to be the original, most strict 4:1 ratio. Good recipes and their site is mainly geared to helping children. Terrific resource for the parents. https://charliefoundation.org/learn-about-ketosis/


(Linda Culbreth) #19

Thanks.


#20

Excellent thread!

Just goes to show how beneficial diet can be!