Standard Ketogenic Diet vs MCT Ketogenic Diet

[queloque]

Take it for what its worth. I've been heavy on the MCT fats in my diet with coconut oil and pure MCT Oil and I see some great benefits. I pulled some key points from the article but the link is below.


MCT oil can be used as a source of fat in the classical ketogenic diet. It offers a number of advantages:

*MCT oil is more "ketogenic" than other fats, so when it is used, it may be possible to operate the diet at a lower ratio, which gives greater flexibility in the choice of foods.

*Because it is fast acting, it can be used as a ketogenic pick me up, for example by giving additional MCT oil in the morning to boost ketones quickly.


*MCT oil is also a laxative, which is often a useful thing with the ketogenic diet.



There are historically two main types of ketogenic diets that are used in practice; the classical ketogenic and the medium chain triglyceride (MCT) ketogenic diet. The MCT diet, which was developed in the 1970s, has since been adapted and various versions are used in centers across the United Kingdom and Europe.

Normal dietary fats, which are used predominantly in the classical ketogenic diet, consist of a mixture of mainly long chain triglyceride (LCT) fats with a small amount of short and medium chain triglyceride (MCT) fats.

The MCT ketogenic diet uses a fat supplement which consists only of MCT fats. MCT fat can produce ketones more easily than LCT fat, which means that in the MCT diet less total fat is needed, thus allowing more carbohydrate and protein to be included in the regimen.

How much MCT is needed in the diet?

The amount of energy given from MCT ranges between treatment centers. The original MCT diet described by Dr. Huttenlocher in the 1970s provided 60 percent of its calories from MCT. Due to tolerance issues using this amount of MCT, the diet was modified by Dr. Ruby Schwartz and colleagues in 1989 at Matthew?s Friends.

This modified MCT diet has 30 percent of the calories obtained from MCT oil or emulsion and 30 percent from long chain dietary fats. It has become known as the ?John Radcliffe diet? because it was a product of the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, UK. The remaining energy breakdown was from carbohydrate, protein and naturally occurring fat in foods. Experience from the Institute of Child Health in London has shown that these levels may be too rigid, i.e. 30 percent of energy from MCT is too low to produce enough ketones, while 60 percent is too high as it may cause side effects. Each child responds differently to the MCT in the diet and thus the dietary prescription will vary from child to child. In many cases the level may begin at 40 percent but may need to be increased to 45-50 percent to maintain ketosis.

What is the diet like?

The MCT diet is traditionally more flexible than the classical version and a larger variety of food can be included due to the higher carbohydrate and protein allowance.

Most centers use exchange lists to divide up the allocated food groups for the day. Parents and caregivers have the flexibility of planning their own meals for the child by choosing foods from the lists in the allocated quantities. Experience has shown that better ketone levels are reached and tolerance obtained if the MCT supplement is divided up evenly across the day between both snacks and meals, i.e. all food must be accompanied by a proportion of MCT fat.

http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/keto_news_august07