Researchers at UCLH Epilepsy Centre have pioneered a new dietary supplement, based on research into how ketogenic diets, high in fat and low in carbohydrates, reduce seizure frequency in people with drug resistant epilepsy. The new supplement could potentially benefit up to 150,000 people in the UK living with drug-resistant epilepsy.
Epilepsy affects over 50,000,000 people globally. Around one third continue to have seizures despite treatment. Ketogenic diets mimic the fasting state and alter the metabolism to use body fat as the primary fuel source. They are effective in controlling seizures in some people with drug resistant epilepsy, but these diets are often poorly tolerated, particularly in adults, and require specialist dietetic input. Also, until recently, how ketogenic diets reduce seizures was unclear.
Over the past decade, BRC-funded researchers at UCLH Epilepsy Centre, in collaboration with the Centre for Biomedical Sciences, Royal Holloway, have investigated how these diets work to control epilepsy. They discovered that one of the fats used in ketogenic diets, decanoic acid, has potent anti-seizure effects. Decanoic acid acts directly on receptor proteins on the surface of brain cells that cause seizure activity1. The fatty acid also increases the number of mitochondria - cell organelles acting as the powerhouses of cells - in nerve cells, which improves cell function. These discoveries may have wider applicability in other neurological diseases2.
In collaboration with Vitaflo International Ltd, the UCLH team devised a decanoic acid-rich dietary supplement (K.Vita). The supplement has now been tested in a first-in-human feasibility study in 61 children and adults with drug-resistant epilepsy, many of whom could not tolerate the ketogenic diet.
The study, carried out in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital BRC and Vitaflo, demonstrated that the supplement dramatically reduced seizure frequency by 50% on average and was well tolerated and required minimal changes to the patient’s normal diet. Fewer than 10% of people had significantly raised ketones that contribute to the side effects of the ketogenic diet 3.
K.Vita is now approved by the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances (ACBS) for use in adults and children with drug resistant epilepsy and will be available following its launch in October 2021. The supplement is also being tested for its effectiveness in other epilepsies and neurological conditions.
1. Chang P. Brain. 2016; 2. Augustin K. Lancet Neurol. 2018; 3. Schoeler NE. Brain Comm. 2021.
