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Eric Kossoff

Pediatric neurologist and professor at Johns Hopkins, director of the Ketogenic Diet Program and a leading expert on ketogenic diet therapies for epilepsy.

Oct 9, 2026

10:28
Um, just some color there would be wonderful.
10:30
Great, you know, great question, and, and then we'll maybe segue into sort of what do we call this, right? Which is actually debated in the field, right? And we'll come back to that.
10:39
But yes, so technically for our treatment of epilepsy, there are five ketogenic diets, okay? Which is a dramatic change compared to, I, I'd say maybe the early 1970s, where it was just what we call now the classic ketogenic diet, right? So the classic ketogenic diet was first created in 1921 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
11:01
That is a diet that is ratio-based, so weight-based.
11:05
So families will weigh and measure on a gram scale foods to create a precise ratio.
11:12
I'm sure your listeners understand that, right? So most children are on a four to one ratio, and that's a weight-based ratio of fat to carbohydrates and protein.
11:23
The goal is to create ketosis.

13 MINS LATER

24:00
Is there an argument to starting epilep- or I guess starting ketogenic therapies earlier in life whilst you still have that very, very plastic window in children? Or is that neuroplasticity not really relevant here?

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