Special diet speeds spinal cord healing

CHICAGO, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates speeds recovery in rats with spinal cord injuries, Canadian researchers said.

Dr. Wolfram Tetzlaff of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver said a diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates, known as the "ketogenic" diet, is already used as a therapy for epilepsy.

Tetzlaff said patients recovering from spinal cord injuries are typically given high-calorie solutions containing large amounts of sugar intravenously as they heal, even though this nutritional plan has never been validated.

Previous research showed fasting is beneficial after partial cervical spinal cord injury in rats, but the strategy was unpopular with patients and clinicians, Tetzlaff said.

The researchers investigated the ketogenic diet as a fasting alternative because, as in fasting, a lack of carbohydrates forces the body to use fat as fuel.

To test the diet, rats were put on either a standard or ketogenic diet immediately after undergoing a cervical spinal cord contusion. The rats on the ketogenic diet recovered faster -- after 14 weeks, 54 percent used their injured paws 15 times more frequently than the rats on a standard diet.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago.