The Big Dietetic Debate: Is there a role for ketogenic diets within a clinical setting?

For today’s big dietetic debate episode, we are thrilled to be joined by two expert guests as we ask, is there a role for ketogenic diets in a clinical setting? Our guests both work within the field of ketogenic diets; one as a Senior Research Fellow and Specialist Paediatric Dietitian at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and the other as an advanced clinical practitioner, leading the Ketogenic Diet service at Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital. In this episode, we’ll start by recapping what the ketogenic diet is before moving on to discuss the use of the diet in a variety of clinical conditions, as well as some of the guidelines and evidence in this field. It's our pleasure to welcome to the Dietitian Café, Dr Natasha Schoeler and Victoria Whiteley. Natasha is a Senior Research Fellow and Specialist Paediatric Dietitian at Great Ormond Street. She specialises in the area of ketogenic diet therapies for neurological conditions and has worked on genetic laboratory and bioinformatics work, clinical trials, meta-analysis and qualitative research. She completed her PhD on genetic predictors of response to ketogenic diets in 2014 and I’m the Founder and Chair of the Ketogenic Dietitians Research Network. Victoria is a Dietitian working in an advanced clinical practitioner role, leading the Ketogenic Diet service at Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital. She has 19 years of experience within the NHS, specialising in Ketogenic diet therapy for the last 11 years since she set up the service at the Children's hospital. The service is one of the biggest in the UK supporting children and young people with drug-resistant epilepsy and those with underlying neurometabolic conditions. In addition to her clinical role, she is also heavily involved in research, and is co-Chair of the ketogenic dietitian's research network with Natasha. She is also a member of the medical board for GLUT-1 UK and a trustee for the Daisy Garland charity. She has recently embarked on a pre-doctoral fellowship with NIHR with the aim of completing a health economic analysis of the ketogenic diet in the management of epilepsy. Show Notes: Guest twitter handles: Natasha: @Natashaschoeler Victoria: @vwhiteley Useful twitter accounts: @KDRN_online @matthewsfriends @thedaisygarland @ketocollege @BDA_Dietitians @BDA_Paediatrics Useful webpages: Ketogenic Dietitians Research Network: https://kdrn.co.uk/ Mathews friends: https://www.matthewsfriends.org/ The Daisy Garland: https://www.thedaisygarland.org.uk/ Research papers: 1. Use of ketogenic diet therapy in infants with epilepsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. (2020). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32452537/ 2. Nice to know: impact of NICE guidelines on ketogenic diet services nationwide (2019). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31429508/ 3. Recent evidence on KD and cancer: a. Ketogenic diet in the treatment of cancer – Where do we stand? (2019). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7056920/ b. Cancer Treatment with the Ketogenic Diet: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Animal Studies (2021). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8219874/ c. Molecular Mechanisms for Ketone Body Metabolism, Signalling Functions, and Therapeutic Potential in Cancer (2022). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9694619/ d. Ketogenic Diets and Cancer: Emerging Evidence (2017). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6375425/