(ANSA) - Milan, September 22 - Rome's Bambino Gesù pediatric
hospital, which is managed by the Vatican, has organized a
conference at the Expo world's fair on food as therapy for
metabolic and neurological diseases in children.
Doctors have found that a low-carb, fat-rich diet helps
prevent convulsions in children with drug-resistant epilepsy,
for example.
"This kind of diet is not very tasty...it requires strict
oversight on the part of doctors and parents," said Bambino Gesù
Neurosciences Department Director Federico Vigevano.
The hospital is trying to come up with a more appetizing
version of this diet, he added.
Diet can also help control Phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare
metabolic disease affecting some 50 newborns a year in Italy
that can lead to intellectual disability, seizures, and other
serious medical problems if left untreated.
PKU sufferers must follow a strict low-protein diet in
order to keep the disease from progressing.
"Neonatal screening for metabolic diseases is widening its
range," said Bambino Gesù Metabolic Diseases Director
Carlo Dionisi Vici.
"Soon we will be able to screen newborns for another 40 or
50 such illnesses, which is key to preventing and curing them".
Bambino Gesù has come up with hundreds of different menus
beneficial to child patients affected by such diseases.