ArticleEpilepsia open2019
Randomized trial of add-on triheptanoin vs medium chain triglycerides in adults with refractory epilepsy.
Article in Epilepsia open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gastrointestinal issues predominate among side effects of medium-chain triglyceride consumption in humans.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Ketogenic diet therapies for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy in children and adults: A systematic review.PloS one · 2026Pooled it
- AMPA Receptor Modulation Through Medium-Chain Triglycerides and Decanoic Acid Supports Nutritional Intervention in Pediatric Epilepsy.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- From clinical practice to mechanistic insights in ketogenic diets for epilepsy.The Lancet. Neurology · 2026Review
- Anaplerosis by medium-chain fatty acids through complex interplay with glucose and glutamine metabolism.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2025Article
- Metabolic aspects of genetic ion channel epilepsies.Journal of neurochemistry · 2024Review
- A high-fat diet supplemented with medium-chain triglycerides ameliorates hepatic steatosis by reducing ceramide and diacylglycerol accumulation in mice.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- Heptanoic and medium branched-chain fatty acids as anaplerotic treatment for medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency.Molecular genetics and metabolism · 2023Article
- Glial Glutamine Homeostasis in Health and Disease.Neurochemical research · 2023Review
- Fats, Friends or Foes: Investigating the Role of Short- and Medium-Chain Fatty Acids in Alzheimer's Disease.Biomedicines · 2022Review
- Medium branched chain fatty acids improve the profile of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates in mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation deficient cells: A comparative study.Journal of inherited metabolic disease · 2022Article
- Updates on the ketogenic diet therapy for pediatric epilepsy.Biomedical journal · 2022Review
- Astrocyte metabolism of the medium-chain fatty acids octanoic acid and decanoic acid promotes GABA synthesis in neurons via elevated glutamine supply.Molecular brain · 2021Article
- Dietary medium chain triglycerides for management of epilepsy: New data from human, dog, and rodent studies.Epilepsia · 2021Review
- Impaired mitochondrial medium-chain fatty acid oxidation drives periportal macrovesicular steatosis in sirtuin-5 knockout mice.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Triheptanoin: First Approval.Drugs · 2020Review
- Open-label long-term treatment of add-on triheptanoin in adults with drug-resistant epilepsy.Epilepsia open · 2020Article
- Physiological Perspectives on the Use of Triheptanoin as Anaplerotic Therapy for Long Chain Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorders.Frontiers in genetics · 2020Article
- Triheptanoin Mitigates Brain ATP Depletion and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2020Article
- Randomized trial of add-on triheptanoin vs medium chain triglycerides in adults with refractory epilepsy.Epilepsia open · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the feasibility, safety, and tolerability of add-on treatment of the triglycerides of heptanoate (triheptanoin) vs the triglycerides of octanoate and decanoate (medium chain triglycerides [MCTs]) in adults with treatment-refractory epilepsy.
methodsAfter an 8-week prospective baseline period, people with drug-resistant epilepsy were randomized in a double-blind fashion to receive triheptanoin or MCTs. Treatment was titrated over 3 weeks to a maximum of 100 mL/d to be distributed over 3 meals and mixed into food, followed by 12-week maintenance before tapering. The primary aims were to assess the following: (a) safety by comparing the number of intervention-related adverse events with triheptanoin vs MCT treatment and (b) adherence, measured as a percentage of the prescribed treatment doses taken.
resultsThirty-four people were randomized (17 to MCT and 17 to triheptanoin). There were no differences regarding (a) the number of participants completing the study (11 vs 9 participants), (b) the time until withdrawal, (c) the total number of adverse events or those potentially related to treatment, (d) median doses of oils taken (59 vs 55 mL/d, SIGNIFICANCE: Add-on treatment with MCTs or triheptanoin was feasible, safe, and tolerated for 12 weeks in two-thirds of people with treatment-resistant epilepsy. Our results indicate a protective effect of MCTs on focal unaware seizures. This warrants further study.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.