Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsDiet and EpilepsyWhat to AvoidTriggering FoodsMedication InteractionsWhat to Eat
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Diet and Epilepsy
What to Avoid
Triggering Foods
Medication Interactions
What to Eat
There are foods you may want to avoid if you have epilepsy. Specialized diets, such as theketogenicdiet, have been shown to help improve seizure control in people withepilepsy.
While not every person with epilepsy needs to go on a restrictive diet,proper nutritionis still important both for overall health and for epilepsy management.
d3sign / Getty Images.
How Diet Affects Epilepsy
Typically, people with epilepsy can eat most foods withoutaffecting their seizures. However, some people with a rare type of epilepsy—reflex epilepsy—may find certain foods can be seizure triggers.
It’s also important to eat a balanced, nutritious diet. This may not directly affect seizures, but it contributes to overall health and can help reduce some seizure triggers, such as supporting healthy sleep habits.
The ketogenic diet and other specialized diets are low in sugar and carbohydrates and higher in healthy fats, which may help some people control seizures.
Drinks and Foods to Avoid With Epilepsy
Unless you are on a restrictive diet with epilepsy, you don’t need to fully avoid most foods, but it can help to avoid or limit some types of food and drinks. These may include:
Can Foods Trigger Seizures?
In general, specific foods are not known to causeseizures, except in rare cases of reflex epilepsy.
Reflex epilepsy is a type of epilepsy in which a person’s seizures consistently occur in response to a certain trigger. This can include flashing or bright lights inphotosensitivity, loud noises or sudden shock in startle epilepsy, and other specific triggers.
There is some evidence that too much potassium in the brain could provoke seizures.Bananas contain a large amount of potassium, but having just one banana a day is unlikely to increase your risk of seizures.
Food Allergies
Food allergiesdon’t causeepilepsy, but they may worsen an existing seizure condition.One small study found eliminating foods that caused positive skin prick tests significantly reduced seizures in 85% of the children who participated in the 12-week study.
Can Food Interact With Epilepsy Medication?
Check the prescription information of your medication and consult with your healthcare provider or pharmacist to see what foods or drinks should be avoided and whether the medication should be taken at a specific time in relation to food or drink intake.
Antiepileptic medications may also interfere with how the body uses some nutrients, such as:
Medications usually don’t cause a problem, but they can lead to deficiencies in some people. Talk to your healthcare provider about testing for deficiencies and if supplementation is needed.
What to Eat With Epilepsy
To potentially reduce seizure risk, eat regular, well-balanced meals, and choose foods that help support a balanced diet and steady energy levels, such as:
Essential Nutrients
Make sure your diet provides an adequate supply ofessential nutrients, such as:
Keto Diet for Epilepsy
Theketogenic (keto) diet for epilepsyis a strict food regimen that is high in fat and low in protein and carbohydrates. It is used to mimic fasting and to prompt the body to make ketones (evidence that the body is using fat for energy).
The keto diet for epilepsy is mainly reserved for children and adolescents, but growing evidence supports its use in adults too.
The ketogenic diet can be effective in helping to control seizures. Up to 60% of children and 40% to 50% of adults who follow a supervised ketogenic diet see a 50% or more reduction in seizure frequency.
With a keto diet, about 90% of calories consumed come from fat. This is vastly different from a typical diet, in which about 55% of calories come from carbohydrates and 20% to 40% of calories come from fat.
The ketogenic diet is very restrictive and can be hard to stick with. It is not nutritionally balanced, and you usually need to take supplements to make up for inadequate nutrients in food. The diet’s side effects may include:
The keto diet should always be used under medical supervision in a ketogenic diet clinic, or with a ketogenic diet team, which may include:
Modified Atkins Diet
A modified Atkins diet may also help reduce seizures in drug-resistant epilepsy. The modified Atkins diet is more flexible and easier to follow than the ketogenic diet for epilepsy. It consists of about 65% fat, 25% protein, and 10%carbohydrate.As with the ketogenic diet, the modified Atkins diet should be followed under medical supervision.
A 2019 review of studies found the modified Atkins diet was about as effective as the ketogenic diet for epilepsy in reducing seizure frequency in children and adolescents after three months and six months of use.
Summary
A well-balanced diet can help provide nutrients for the body to work optimally, keep blood sugar levels stable, and keep energy levels steady. Avoiding or limiting foods and beverages that are high in sugar and caffeine, and avoidingalcoholcan also help with seizure management.
Some people with seizures whodon’t respond well to medicationsmay benefit from a medically supervised diet such as the ketogenic diet or the modified Atkins diet.
15 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Epilepsy Foundation.Nutrition and seizure control.Okudan ZV, Özkara Ç.Reflex epilepsy: triggers and management strategies.Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2018;14:327-337. doi:10.2147/NDT.S107669Epilepsy Society.Diet and nutrition.Epilepsy Newfoundland and Labrador.Nutrition and epilepsy.van Koert RR, Bauer PR, Schuitema I, Sander JW, Visser GH.Caffeine and seizures: A systematic review and quantitative analysis. Epilepsy & Behavior. 2018;80:37-47. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.11.003The Epilepsy Centre.Nutrition.Epilepsy Ontario.Triggers.Ying T, Grayden DB, Burkitt AN, Kameneva T.An increase in the extracellular potassium concentration can cause seizures.BMC Neurosci. 2015;16(Suppl 1):P113. doi:10.1186/1471-2202-16-S1-P113Gorjipour H, Darougar S, Mansouri M, et al.Hypoallergenic diet may control refractory epilepsy in allergic children: A quasi experimental study. Sci Rep. 2019 May 3;9(1):6875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43252-0Epilepsy Foundation.Diets.D’Andrea Meira I, Romão TT, Pires do Prado HJ, Krüger LT, Pires MEP, da Conceição PO.Ketogenic diet and epilepsy: what we know so far.Front Neurosci. 2019;13:5. doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00005London Health Sciences Centre.The ketogenic diet.Nei M, Ngo L, Sirven JI, Sperling MR.Ketogenic diet in adolescents and adults with epilepsy.Seizure. 2014;23(6):439-42. doi:10.1016/j.seizure.2014.02.015Canadian Epilepsy Alliance.Ketogenic diet.Rezaei S, Abdurahman AA, Saghazadeh A, Badv RS, Mahmoudi M.Short-term and long-term efficacy of classical ketogenic diet and modified Atkins diet in children and adolescents with epilepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nutr Neurosci. 2019;22(5):317-334. doi:10.1080/1028415X.2017.1387721
15 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Epilepsy Foundation.Nutrition and seizure control.Okudan ZV, Özkara Ç.Reflex epilepsy: triggers and management strategies.Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2018;14:327-337. doi:10.2147/NDT.S107669Epilepsy Society.Diet and nutrition.Epilepsy Newfoundland and Labrador.Nutrition and epilepsy.van Koert RR, Bauer PR, Schuitema I, Sander JW, Visser GH.Caffeine and seizures: A systematic review and quantitative analysis. Epilepsy & Behavior. 2018;80:37-47. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.11.003The Epilepsy Centre.Nutrition.Epilepsy Ontario.Triggers.Ying T, Grayden DB, Burkitt AN, Kameneva T.An increase in the extracellular potassium concentration can cause seizures.BMC Neurosci. 2015;16(Suppl 1):P113. doi:10.1186/1471-2202-16-S1-P113Gorjipour H, Darougar S, Mansouri M, et al.Hypoallergenic diet may control refractory epilepsy in allergic children: A quasi experimental study. Sci Rep. 2019 May 3;9(1):6875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43252-0Epilepsy Foundation.Diets.D’Andrea Meira I, Romão TT, Pires do Prado HJ, Krüger LT, Pires MEP, da Conceição PO.Ketogenic diet and epilepsy: what we know so far.Front Neurosci. 2019;13:5. doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00005London Health Sciences Centre.The ketogenic diet.Nei M, Ngo L, Sirven JI, Sperling MR.Ketogenic diet in adolescents and adults with epilepsy.Seizure. 2014;23(6):439-42. doi:10.1016/j.seizure.2014.02.015Canadian Epilepsy Alliance.Ketogenic diet.Rezaei S, Abdurahman AA, Saghazadeh A, Badv RS, Mahmoudi M.Short-term and long-term efficacy of classical ketogenic diet and modified Atkins diet in children and adolescents with epilepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nutr Neurosci. 2019;22(5):317-334. doi:10.1080/1028415X.2017.1387721
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Epilepsy Foundation.Nutrition and seizure control.Okudan ZV, Özkara Ç.Reflex epilepsy: triggers and management strategies.Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2018;14:327-337. doi:10.2147/NDT.S107669Epilepsy Society.Diet and nutrition.Epilepsy Newfoundland and Labrador.Nutrition and epilepsy.van Koert RR, Bauer PR, Schuitema I, Sander JW, Visser GH.Caffeine and seizures: A systematic review and quantitative analysis. Epilepsy & Behavior. 2018;80:37-47. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.11.003The Epilepsy Centre.Nutrition.Epilepsy Ontario.Triggers.Ying T, Grayden DB, Burkitt AN, Kameneva T.An increase in the extracellular potassium concentration can cause seizures.BMC Neurosci. 2015;16(Suppl 1):P113. doi:10.1186/1471-2202-16-S1-P113Gorjipour H, Darougar S, Mansouri M, et al.Hypoallergenic diet may control refractory epilepsy in allergic children: A quasi experimental study. Sci Rep. 2019 May 3;9(1):6875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43252-0Epilepsy Foundation.Diets.D’Andrea Meira I, Romão TT, Pires do Prado HJ, Krüger LT, Pires MEP, da Conceição PO.Ketogenic diet and epilepsy: what we know so far.Front Neurosci. 2019;13:5. doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00005London Health Sciences Centre.The ketogenic diet.Nei M, Ngo L, Sirven JI, Sperling MR.Ketogenic diet in adolescents and adults with epilepsy.Seizure. 2014;23(6):439-42. doi:10.1016/j.seizure.2014.02.015Canadian Epilepsy Alliance.Ketogenic diet.Rezaei S, Abdurahman AA, Saghazadeh A, Badv RS, Mahmoudi M.Short-term and long-term efficacy of classical ketogenic diet and modified Atkins diet in children and adolescents with epilepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nutr Neurosci. 2019;22(5):317-334. doi:10.1080/1028415X.2017.1387721
Epilepsy Foundation.Nutrition and seizure control.
Okudan ZV, Özkara Ç.Reflex epilepsy: triggers and management strategies.Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2018;14:327-337. doi:10.2147/NDT.S107669
Epilepsy Society.Diet and nutrition.
Epilepsy Newfoundland and Labrador.Nutrition and epilepsy.
van Koert RR, Bauer PR, Schuitema I, Sander JW, Visser GH.Caffeine and seizures: A systematic review and quantitative analysis. Epilepsy & Behavior. 2018;80:37-47. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.11.003
The Epilepsy Centre.Nutrition.
Epilepsy Ontario.Triggers.
Ying T, Grayden DB, Burkitt AN, Kameneva T.An increase in the extracellular potassium concentration can cause seizures.BMC Neurosci. 2015;16(Suppl 1):P113. doi:10.1186/1471-2202-16-S1-P113
Gorjipour H, Darougar S, Mansouri M, et al.Hypoallergenic diet may control refractory epilepsy in allergic children: A quasi experimental study. Sci Rep. 2019 May 3;9(1):6875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43252-0
Epilepsy Foundation.Diets.
D’Andrea Meira I, Romão TT, Pires do Prado HJ, Krüger LT, Pires MEP, da Conceição PO.Ketogenic diet and epilepsy: what we know so far.Front Neurosci. 2019;13:5. doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00005
London Health Sciences Centre.The ketogenic diet.
Nei M, Ngo L, Sirven JI, Sperling MR.Ketogenic diet in adolescents and adults with epilepsy.Seizure. 2014;23(6):439-42. doi:10.1016/j.seizure.2014.02.015
Canadian Epilepsy Alliance.Ketogenic diet.
Rezaei S, Abdurahman AA, Saghazadeh A, Badv RS, Mahmoudi M.Short-term and long-term efficacy of classical ketogenic diet and modified Atkins diet in children and adolescents with epilepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nutr Neurosci. 2019;22(5):317-334. doi:10.1080/1028415X.2017.1387721
Meet Our Medical Expert Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
What is your feedback?
