ketogenic diet

FRAXA Research Foundation February 2, 2023

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that in medicine is used primarily to treat difficult-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates.

Preclinical Testing of Sleep-Wake Patterns as an Outcome Measure for Fragile X
FRAXA Research Foundation awarded $122,000 over 2016-2018 to Dr. Cara Westmark at the University of Wisconsin at Madison for studies of sleep disorders in Fragile X syndrome.
Ketogenic Diet Eases Symptoms in Fragile X Male Mice
The Westmark laboratory continues to study sleep and rest-activity cycles in Fragile X mice as a potential outcome measure that correlates between preclinical and clinical research. The analysis of sleep EEG in the mice has proven more labor intensive than they anticipated, but the team is collaborating with Dr. Rama Maganti’s laboratory at UW-Madison on the development of computer scrips to speed up the analysis.
Preclinical Testing of High Fat/Low Carb Diets in Fragile X Mice and Cells
With a $90,000 research grant from FRAXA, Dr. Cara Westmark's team will use mice to determine if more palatable Atkins-type diets can improve sleep and boost learning skills for those with Fragile X syndrome.

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