History of dietary treatment: Guelpa & Marie first report of intermittent fasting for epilepsy in 1911.

We analyzed the article of Guelpa & Marie, published in 1911 and often quoted in the history of dietary treatment, as the basis for the use of ketogenic diet to mimic fasting. In this paper, the authors treated 21 patients with a diet consisting of daily administration of 30 g of sodium sulphate for 4 days, with unlimited aqueous beverage and no food, followed by a vegetarian diet restricted to half of the ordinary intake. This is the first report of intermittent fasting as treatment strategy for epilepsy. In this case series, 15 patients did not follow properly the diet while 2 improved temporary before they quitted the diet and 4 presented an improvement.