Is there a Relation between Food Intake and Epileptic Seizures in Children?

Seizure is one of the most common pediatric neurology problems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of different kinds of food on seizures of epileptic children based on their mothers attitude and experience. In a descriptive- analytic study done at the pediatric neurology clinic of Shahid Sadoughi University, attitude and experience of mothers regarding the effect of different kinds of foods on children seizures was evaluated via a questionnaire. A total of 148 mothers with ages ranging between 17-52 years (mean± SD:31.6± 6.6 years) were evaluated. Their children were 58.5% boys and 41.5% girls with age range of 1-19 years (mean± SD: 6.2±3.8 years). Eighty percent of mothers believed that different kinds of food affected the seizures and this belief was not related to their educational level, gender of child or state of seizure control. The most common kinds of food which triggered seizures based on mothers attitude were salty food and pickled vegetables and based on experience, they were cucumber and milk and. The most common kinds of food that caused decreasing in seizures frequency based on mothers attitude were coffee and cattle oil and based on experience, they were honey and sugar. In this study, majority of mothers believe that different kinds of food have an effect on the seizures in their children and it is necessary to educate epileptic patients about their diet after extraction and testing of effective materials of different kinds of food in animals and human models via further researches.