A different type of diet to try out for PKUs

Zimmermann et. al. (2012) [11]

The constant dieting and not being able to eat what you want is just frustrating. Not to mention stupid. And irritating. However, it does help to save your life. But really, is there another way around this diet thing?

Well, this method doesn't exactly get rid of the diet thingy, but it is an improvement.

This experiment ("Positive effect of a simplified diet on blood phenylalanine control in different phenylketonuria variants, characterized by newborn BH(4) loading test and PAH analysis.") investigated how people with PKU would respond to eating only fruits and vegetables containing Phe less than 100mg/100g (simplified diet), instead of just plain eating only this specific amount of phenylalanine (classic diet). Basically 80 people with different types of PKU were involved in this experiment and the amount of Phe in their blood was measured before and after they tried the simplified diet. Remember that if the amount of Phe in the blood is too high, it will be dangerous for the person. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the median level of blood Phe levels before and after the simplified diet was introduced, even if the patient had hyperphenylalaninemia. What's more 50/80 of the PKU patients tested changed their diets to the simpified one. This means that the simplified diet can be used by all patients regardless of the type of the severity of the phenotype or the age at which they switch their diet. It also means that the simplified diet works.

The simplified diet is simpler to follow and is more flexible, therefore people suffering from PKU will find it easier to follow their diet plans.:)

This article is taken from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22607939
(Zimmermann M, Jacobs P, Fingerhut R, Torresani T, Thöny B, Blau N, Baumgartner MR, Rohrbach M. Positive effect of a simplified diet on blood phenylalanine control in different phenylketonuria variants, characterized by newborn BH(4) loading test and PAH analysis. Mol Genet Metab. 2012 Jul;106(3):264-8 Retrieved on 10 July, 2012, from [PubMed] )