Ketogenic: The Science of Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction in Human Health

A little over a century after the term ketogenic diet (KD) was coined at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, it is today ‘a mainstream treatment for paediatric epilepsy, offered in approximately 75 countries’ with the International Neurologic Ketogenic Society continuing ‘to advocate for expanded use and organise biannual scientific conferences www.neuroketo.org.’ This is cited in Ketogenic, which not only describes the myriad applications of KDs beyond the treatment of epilepsy, but as Professor Tim Noakes notes in its preface, ‘definitively establishes that therapeutic carbohydrate restriction (TCR) is perhaps the most studied and definitely the most effective dietary intervention known to modern medicine.’

This is an indispensable textbook for all healthcare professionals involved in providing evidence-based nutritional advice and lifestyle help to patients. A decade ago, reducing carbohydrate intake was considered a ‘fad’ and went against the prevailing dietary guidelines, but as Nutrition Network's Managing Director Jayne Bullen makes clear in the Introduction: ‘The same guidelines have contributed to an epidemic of diabetes, obesity and most other chronic and metabolic diseases.’