Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn
Shared publicly -I wrote this on Facebook, but I can never find things over there, so I'm copying it over here. Someone had mentioned the keto diet as a treatment for epilepsy, and that it was discovered in 1921.
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It is an interesting moment in history. You know what else was developed in 1921? Insulin — the first life-saving miracle drug, for the treatment of diabetes.
These two stories — the discovery of insulin for diabetes and the discovery of keto for epilepsy — are intimately related, because it seems like the scientist who published the keto diet as a treatment for epilepsy — R.M. Wilder — may have "borrowed" it without attribution from a diet that had been used for the treatment of diabetes.
This may have been one of those moments that changed history, because if Wilder had cited the earlier diets used to treat diabetics, then the keto diet used to treat epilepsy would have been recognized as a new use of a diet that had already been used for more than 100 years to treat diabetes, instead of being derived in 1921 from the practice of fasting. (For example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet#History describes keto diet as having been derived from fasting, in 1921.)
But if the true origins of the diet had been known, then perhaps it would not be seen as needing calorie-restriction, because perhaps the discoveries of Newburgh's experiments on a high-fat keto diet for diabetics would have informed the epileptologists. Then epileptic children would not have been subjected to harmful calorie-restriction for the next 100 years. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if epileptic children are still being subjected to harmful calories restriction to this very day, largely due to this unfortunate historical accident.
When did Newburgh publish those experiments on using a high-fat keto diet? Coincidentally, it was in 1921.
And of course as we now know one of the most profound and important effects that keto diet has is to regulate blood insulin levels. So it is an irony and a shame that the discovery of the first miracle drug — exogenous insulin — in 1921 eclipsed the scientific investigation into the miracle diet. :-)
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It is an interesting moment in history. You know what else was developed in 1921? Insulin — the first life-saving miracle drug, for the treatment of diabetes.
These two stories — the discovery of insulin for diabetes and the discovery of keto for epilepsy — are intimately related, because it seems like the scientist who published the keto diet as a treatment for epilepsy — R.M. Wilder — may have "borrowed" it without attribution from a diet that had been used for the treatment of diabetes.
This may have been one of those moments that changed history, because if Wilder had cited the earlier diets used to treat diabetics, then the keto diet used to treat epilepsy would have been recognized as a new use of a diet that had already been used for more than 100 years to treat diabetes, instead of being derived in 1921 from the practice of fasting. (For example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet#History describes keto diet as having been derived from fasting, in 1921.)
But if the true origins of the diet had been known, then perhaps it would not be seen as needing calorie-restriction, because perhaps the discoveries of Newburgh's experiments on a high-fat keto diet for diabetics would have informed the epileptologists. Then epileptic children would not have been subjected to harmful calorie-restriction for the next 100 years. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if epileptic children are still being subjected to harmful calories restriction to this very day, largely due to this unfortunate historical accident.
When did Newburgh publish those experiments on using a high-fat keto diet? Coincidentally, it was in 1921.
And of course as we now know one of the most profound and important effects that keto diet has is to regulate blood insulin levels. So it is an irony and a shame that the discovery of the first miracle drug — exogenous insulin — in 1921 eclipsed the scientific investigation into the miracle diet. :-)
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2 comments
Thanks +Alexander Wait Zaranek!
I'm glad that "Modified Atkins Diet", which is more sane, is on the menu there. Here is an example from that page of the standard medical beliefs which I think are bullshit: "The ketogenic diet is not a “natural” diet, or one to be undertaken lightly. It’s highly precise and restrictive and can cause side effects."
I think that's bullshit. Or more precisely, the "Classical" form of the keto diet, derived from Wilder-1921, is unnatural and dangerous but this is entirely because of the unnecessary addition of calories restriction, water restriction, protein restriction, and other craziness. If they would just have epileptic kids eat nothing but meat, all of those problems would disappear. (The Modified Atkins Diet that they mention on that page is a big step in that direction.)
And, those crazy additions are derived from Wilder, who indirectly and without attribution derived it from Frederick Allen and Elliot Joslin: http://www.nutritionj.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-10-23.pdf
Which was the topic of my rant, above. :-)
I'm glad that "Modified Atkins Diet", which is more sane, is on the menu there. Here is an example from that page of the standard medical beliefs which I think are bullshit: "The ketogenic diet is not a “natural” diet, or one to be undertaken lightly. It’s highly precise and restrictive and can cause side effects."
I think that's bullshit. Or more precisely, the "Classical" form of the keto diet, derived from Wilder-1921, is unnatural and dangerous but this is entirely because of the unnecessary addition of calories restriction, water restriction, protein restriction, and other craziness. If they would just have epileptic kids eat nothing but meat, all of those problems would disappear. (The Modified Atkins Diet that they mention on that page is a big step in that direction.)
And, those crazy additions are derived from Wilder, who indirectly and without attribution derived it from Frederick Allen and Elliot Joslin: http://www.nutritionj.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-10-23.pdf
Which was the topic of my rant, above. :-)
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