Credit: Macroscopic Solutions

I do research about migraines and migraine prevention. I also manage two Facebook migraine groups (here and here). Most every day I find a heart-warming testimonial, as members become migraine free, as they slowly acclimate to the dietary regime that is best for them (LCHF or keto or carnivore) within the Stanton Migraine Protocol. I sometimes see testimonials that are emotional and uplifting— like about a child expressing joy for being able to spend time with mom, having fun, instead of mom spending her day in a dark room, while the child is quietly playing alone.

The Glaucoma That Was

I sometimes get jolted by a fascinating testimonial. This morning was one of those days: I received a testimonial that had nothing to do with migraines, but everything to do with the way-of-eating (woe) in the groups. The health condition that responded to the low carb woe was glaucoma:

“… in light of what we are doing with low carb and high fat diets, I wanted to express my fascination with the wholistic nature and potential application of this woe. I care for an Alzheimer’s patient and basically he eats what I eat, which is scraping the bottom edge of Keto with a few fruits and vegetables. I have been with him a little over a year now and been with Angela for a year and a half. We just reviewed his latest blood work and vital #s and the doctor is quite amazed and impressed with his overall stability. His eye doctor scratched his head indicating that his glaucoma had reversed itself, but he could not understand or explain why. My point is this: We are here because we are motivated out of our minds, literally to cure or at least address a most debilitating set of symptoms; this also places us in a position of power and responsibility to make sure that we share this information with people we love and care about, and not just for migraine. This movement is an enormous paradigm shift and unfortunately most doctors are not yet able to embrace this monster transition, which appears to be full of contradictions to what they hold as true. In spite of myself and my own shortcomings and inabilities, I have had great success here in eliminating migraine just by being tenacious and willing to hang on despite the set-backs. Good luck to us all! I am still slowly reducing carbohydrate intake and have eliminated added sugar. It’s been a slow process because I am a caregiver and answer to several doctors and three family members, all of whom have a fair amount of push-back. He is NOT Keto, but closer to LCHF, and a million miles from where we originally started. We use primarily animal fat, MCT oil, and some olive oil and eat grass fed lamb, beef, pork and chicken, and incorporate bone broth in almost every meal… We are a work in progress and the clock is ticking.” DL 2/12/2020

This was not the first time that someone posted a comment about their glaucoma reversal — to my recollection there had been two other cases, both of those on the ketogenic diet. I didn’t think much about it at that time, primarily because I didn’t ask for medical proof that, indeed, the person had diagnosed glaucoma, and is now diagnosed without it. In this case however, there is documented medical proof. Furthermore, the person to whom this happened is not really aware of what woe he follows, since his caretaker — the migraineur from my group — is the one in charge of preparing his meals.

In addition, this patient is on a LCHF and not on a ketogenic diet. Many people — all migraineurs — fall into ketosis on the low carbohydrate diet. This patient though is not in ketosis, so there may be other players in the game.

While we think of the LCHF diet primarily for its low carbs, the LCHF diet also avoids all processed foods, all sugar, honey, and other sweeteners, all grains and starches, and all seed and vegetable oils as well. Hence, the benefits gained is not just from ketosis as a result of the reduced carbs but from eating only nutrient-dense freshly made foods without any factory processing.

Choroidal space, human eye. Credit: Peter Maloca.

N=1

His eye doctor scratched his head indicating that his glaucoma had reversed itself, but he could not understand or explain why

While stories like this are often ignored because they usually are n=1, anecdotal evidence, this case is different. The patient is not consciously aware that what he eats is low in carbohydrates, and he is not the one saying that his glaucoma disappeared. His doctor does. This was an unintentional medical case study, which the ophthalmologist could have documented as such — in a perfect world. Precisely why I have written this article. It is extremely important to document findings like this! Science advances one n=1 at a time.

There are academic articles examining the potential of the ketogenic diet for reversing glaucoma, but not the LCHF woe. This article recommends the experimentation with the ketogenic diet because of its neuroprotective capabilities. Research on animals has already shown benefits of the ketogenic diet for glaucoma(1,2). Of course, we already know that the ketogenic diet provides neuroprotection to the seizure brain(3,4), in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases(5), and even cancer is helped by it(6). Migraine prevention is a definite winner when it comes to any of the low carbs diets — this too is new science. With my Facebook groups, I have 5+ years of case studies to prove it. However, since not all low carbs diets are ketogenic, there must be much more to the reasons why the low carbs diets provide neuroprotection.

The research should be broadened to examine all levels of carbohydrate restrictions and also the rest of the changes: in addition to cutting out all processed foods and refined carbohydrates, as well as consuming no sugar, no grains, and no starches, the replacement of vegetable and seed oils (PUFA) by saturated fats and the increase of animal proteins may have very important roles.

Who Do You Believe?

That a reduced carbohydrate diet can help so many diseases, should inform our decisions about what we eat. We are still bombarded by a lot of misinformation; some are based on ignorance, such as this recommendation, while others are deliberate, such as this article, or mixed message articles, like this one. We also find contradictory findings in current research, particularly in the analysis of food questionnaires.

“Interestingly, some of the associations found in Dr. Giaconi’s study and Dr. Coleman’s studies disagreed. For example, Dr. Giaconi’s data indicated that in her sample of African-American women, eating more than two servings per week of fresh oranges was associated with lowered glaucoma risk, as was eating more spinach. In contrast, Dr. Coleman’s study found an increased risk of glaucoma associated with consumption of orange juice (statistically significant) and fresh oranges or spinach (not statistically significant).” (here)

So, as you see, it is very difficult to find our way around in the maze of misinformation — deliberate or otherwise. How can we tell truth from ignorance or lies? You may not like my answer: look at the anecdotal evidences. They have no incentive to tell anyone that they lost weight, reversed their insulin resistance, reversed their cancer, or any other health condition. They are not trying to convince you. They are merely reporting on what they have done because they are happy and proud of their achievements.

Sources:

1 Zarnowski, T. et al. Kynurenic Acid and Neuroprotective Activity of the Ketogenic Diet in the Eye. Current medicinal chemistry 24, 3547–3558, doi:10.2174/0929867324666170509120257 (2017).

2 Thaler, S. et al. Neuroprotection by acetoacetate and β-hydroxybutyrate against NMDA-induced RGC damage in rat — possible involvement of kynurenic acid. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 248, 1729–1735, doi:10.1007/s00417–010–1425–7 (2010).

3 Maciejak, P. et al. Is the interaction between fatty acids and tryptophan responsible for the efficacy of a ketogenic diet in epilepsy? The new hypothesis of action. Neuroscience 313, 130–148, doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.11.029 (2016).

4 Simeone, T. A., Simeone, K. A., Stafstrom, C. E. & Rho, J. M. Do ketone bodies mediate the anti-seizure effects of the ketogenic diet? Neuropharmacology 133, 233–241, doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.01.011 (2018).

5 Włodarek, D. Role of Ketogenic Diets in Neurodegenerative Diseases (Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease). Nutrients 11, 169, doi:10.3390/nu11010169 (2019).

6 Tan-Shalaby, J. Ketogenic Diets and Cancer: Emerging Evidence. Fed Pract 34, 37S-42S (2017). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6375425/