Nine year old girl on medical ‘Cream’ Diet
Lucy Murphy from Exeter, Devon is a nine year old girl like any other. She enjoys going to Brownies and is learning to play the keyboard. Unfortunately, Lucky suffers from a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet?s Syndrome, which resulted in her having uncontrollable seizures which could last for many hours. The condition controlled her entire life and stopped her from leading a normal childhood. That is until she started a new diet.
The diet is similar in content to the Atkins Diet, a fad diet that was popular several years ago but was mired by much controversy by medical professionals due to its high fat intake. It?s called the ?ketogenic diet? and like Atkins, it?s very high in fat and low in carbohydrate content. In fact, the diet is around 80% fats. This fact produces ketones which in turn block seizures from the brain. In contrast, the most carbohydrates Lucy can consume in a day are the equivalent of a single slice of brown bread.
Lucy now drinks pints of whole cream instead of milk, and eats a high amount of butters and oils. One of her other staple foods is aubergines as they soak up large amounts of fat when cooked.
Lucy?s Mother, Denise Murphy commented on how they diet has changed her daughters life: ?”We started the diet about 12 months ago. We lived on a knife edge for years and used to have an ambulance outside of the house all of the time but she has not been to hospital for the last year. She still needs medication but we have not needed the emergency drugs.”
Dravet?s Syndrome develops during the first year of life and can lead to frequent seizures and poor development of motor skills and language.