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Epilepsy is one of the most common neurologic disorders in childhood that often requires long term treatment with antiepileptic drugs. Both antiepileptic treatment and the comorbidities associated with epilepsy have a negative impact on bone health in growing children. Given the fact that vitamin D deficiency is a major public health problem worldwide, clinicians caring for children with chronic diseases should be aware of effects of the medication on the bone metabolism. Yet, vitamin D deficiency due to antiepileptic treatment is an overlooked issue among neurologists. In this review, we briefly describe vitamin D metabolism and the effect of vitamin D in the brain. We also discuss the literature in terms of vitamin D deficiency and antiepileptic treatment in the pediatric population.

Ketogenic diet composed of high fat and low carbonhydrate was introduced as a therapeutic alternative for epilepsy in early 20's. As new antiepileptic agents such as phenytoin were discovered, popularity of the diet was waned until 90's. Studies on efficacy of diet in refractory epilepsy reported that approximately half of the children had a significant reduction, 15% of whom were seizure free. With growing body of evidence and introduction of diet modifications, ketogenic diet was promoted as a first line treatment for epileptic encephalopathies such as myoclonic-astatic epilepsy , Dravet syndrome and infantile spasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]