ReviewEpilepsia2021
Dietary medium chain triglycerides for management of epilepsy: New data from human, dog, and rodent studies.
Review in Epilepsia, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Astrocytic adrenergic α2 receptor contributes to the mechanisms underlying the circadian rhythmicity of seizure susceptibility.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Review
- Influence of Ketogenic Diet Lipid Composition on Anxiety-Like Behavior and Neurometabolic Profile in Healthy Rats.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Canine Idiopathic Epilepsy as a Natural Animal Model for Human Epilepsy: A Scoping Review Highlighting Metabolic Perspectives Beyond the Brain.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Associations of Dietary Decanoic Acid Intake With Cognitive Function in the Elderly and the Mediating Effects of Hypertension and Diabetes: An Analysis From NHANES 2011-2014.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Mitochondrial dysfunction and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in drug-resistant epilepsy: emerging insights and mitochondrial-targeted therapeutic strategies.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Review
- Metabolic reprogramming in ischemic stroke: when glycolytic overdrive meets lipid storm.Cell death & disease · 2025Review
- Article
- Screening of metabolic markers in pediatric epilepsy disorders.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Dietary Intervention with Cottonseed and Olive Oil Differentially Affect the Circulating Lipidome and Immunoregulatory Compounds-A Randomized Clinical Trial.Metabolites · 2025Article
- Plasma metabolome reveals altered oxidative stress, inflammation, and amino acid metabolism in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy.Epilepsia · 2025Article
- Treatment-Refractory Epilepsy Alimentary Therapy (TREAT): A canine case study.The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne · 2025Article
- Ketogenic Diet and Gut Microbiota: Exploring New Perspectives on Cognition and Mood.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- SYNGAP1 Syndrome and the Brain Gene Registry.Genes · 2025Review
- Idiopathic epilepsy in dogs is associated with dysbiotic faecal microbiota.Animal microbiome · 2025Article
- Exploring Gut Microbiota-Targeted Therapies for Canine Idiopathic Epilepsy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Metabolic aspects of genetic ion channel epilepsies.Journal of neurochemistry · 2024Review
- Towards a better understanding of idiopathic epilepsy through metabolic fingerprinting of cerebrospinal fluid in dogs.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Pathophysiology to Risk Factor and Therapeutics to Treatment Strategies on Epilepsy.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Decreased neuronal excitability in hypertriglyceridemia hamsters with acute seizures.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Many studies show that glucose metabolism in epileptic brain areas can be impaired. Energy is crucial to maintain normal brain function, including ion and neurotransmitter balances. Energy deficits can lead to disruption of ion gradients, which can trigger neuronal depolarization and generation of seizures. Thus, perturbed metabolic processing of glucose in epileptogenic brain areas indicates a specific nutritional need for people and animals with epilepsy, as they are likely to benefit from auxiliary brain fuels other than glucose. Ketogenic diets provide the ketone bodies acetoacetate and β-hydroxybutyrate, which can be used as auxiliary fuel by the brain. In approximately 50% children and adults with certain types of epilepsy, who can tolerate and maintain these dietary regimens, seizure frequency can be effectively reduced. More recent data demonstrate that addition of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which provide the medium chain fatty acids octanoic and decanoic acid, as well as ketone bodies as auxiliary brain energy, can be beneficial in rodent seizure models, and dogs and humans with epilepsy. Here, this evidence is reviewed, including tolerance in 65% of humans, efficacy studies in dogs, possible anticonvulsant mechanisms of actions of MCTs, and specifically decanoic acid as well as metabolic and antioxidant mechanisms. In conclusion, MCTs are a promising adjunct to standard pharmacological treatment for both humans and dogs with epilepsy, as they lack central nervous system side effects found with current antiepileptic drugs. There is now a need for larger clinical trials in children, adults, and dogs to find the ideal composition and doses of MCTs and the types of epilepsy that respond best.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.