PKT uses food to reduce the need for medication in specific patient populations. This therapy is low in carbohydrates, meets all nutrient requirements, and is palatable. It takes sustained effort from patients, family, caregivers and the PKT Team but has demonstrated efficacy.
Candidates must…
Step 1: Candidates are referred to one of our physicians in the program.
Step 2: Upon evaluation, an informed consent is signed.
Step 3: Pre-Initiation Education
Step 4: Initiation
Step 5: Patient Monitoring with patient and families communicating frequently with the PKT team.
Patients and their families join the “PKT Village” along with the PKT Team. Each member having a critical role in administering PKT to the patient. The PKT Village works together better than a team - we work together as a family.
As a healthcare provider, you can provide PKT to your patients by collaborating with the University of Florida PKT program in three different ways.
You can transfer care of pediatric patients to the University of Florida Pediatric Neurology Division and the care of adult patients to the University of Florida Epilepsy Division in the Department of Neurology. Neurologist within these divisions will refer the patients to our PKT program if appropriate.
You can refer pediatric patients to the University of Florida Pediatric Neurology Division and adult patients to the University of Florida Epilepsy Division in the Department of Neurology for evaluation for PKT. If the patients are referred to our PKT program and decide to enroll in the program, the UF neurologist will be the PKT neurologist collaborating with you to coordinate PKT with the rest of the patients' neurological care.
You can establish your PKT program using resources provided on this website. If you desire collaboration with the University of Florida PKT Program in creating your program, we will be happy to work with you.
We enjoy sharing our thoughts and wonderments of using food as medicine. Since we have a diverse audience, we have a blog series for different groups including patients and their families, healthcare providers, and scientists. Links below take you to the most recent blog in each series.
Listservs and social media have discussed increased use of Telehealth in administering ketogenic diets to treat a variety of health issues. A recent publication reports successful use of telehealth to administer ketogenic diets at two pediatric epilepsy centers (2). Our experience using telehealth for PKT outpatient visits continues to be positive. University of Florida is […]
Listservs and social media have discussed increased use of Telehealth in administering ketogenic diets to treat a variety of health issues. A recent publication reports successful use of telehealth to administer ketogenic diets at two pediatric epilepsy centers (2). Our experience using telehealth for PKT outpatient visits continues to be positive. University of Florida is […]
Surviving a Pandemic Our lab thrived in 2020 by using a telework strategy. We quickly moved from working and meeting in a physical location on the University of Florida (UF) campus to an online virtual environment to perform assigned duties, projects, and patient clinical visits. While we could pause our animal work, we could not [...]
