The Charlie Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocating for ketogenic diet therapies
The Charlie Foundation was established in 1994 in order to raise awareness about the ketogenic diet as a treatment for childhood epilepsy. The modern success of the diet has led to new demands on the medical community and an expansion of the therapy to neurological disorders and cancers. In order to meet these demands, the Charlie Foundation has enhanced its mission to include educational programs and support for families, dietitians, neurologists and researchers. The ketogenic diet controls epilepsy in patients with difficult-to-control seizures at a significantly higher rate than any drug or combination of drugs. The success of the diet for epilepsy has been recognized by medical professionals for over ninety years. The diet has also more recently been administered as a therapy for improving other neurological conditions and arresting cancers. Over one billion people in the world have neurological disorders, including fifty million people who live with epilepsy, and the prevalence of cancers is even greater. A renewed interest in the ketogenic diet has brought together many of the best minds in research to advance knowledge and treatment of these disorders. The Charlie Foundation’s mission is to offer solutions for the treatment of epilepsy, neurological disorders, and cancers, and to provide resources and educational information to an expanding network of medical professionals, caregivers and patients. Our vision is to create and support initiatives that bring our global community closer to illness prevention and treatment solutions.
06/03/2025
Call for abstracts by Dr. Elles van der Louw, Co-chair of the Scientific Organizing Committee for the Global Symposium on Ketogenic Therapies, Paris, France, September 2025.
Dr Elles van der Louw - co-chair of the Scientific Organising CommitteeCall for abstracts for the Global Symposium on Ketogenic Therapies being held in Paris...
04/16/2025
Wishing a happy Easter to all our keto friends! You can find a variety of spring recipes in our link tree! We hope you enjoy time with family and friends and some delicious low carb treats!
Our Winter Newsletter has just been sent and includes a heartfelt thank you message from Jamie Abrahams. If you have not yet signed up for the Charlie Foundation quarterly newsletter, please do! New subscribers will receive the latest version later this week. Each edition includes important updates from The Charlie Foundation, upcoming events, recipes, keto stories and more.
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our co-founder and extraordinary human, Jim Abrahams. Jim passed away peacefully at home on November 26th.
Jim’s vision and passion were instrumental in establishing The Charlie Foundation and advancing the use of ketogenic therapies to improve countless lives. His unwavering dedication and compassion leave an enduring legacy that will continue to inspire us. We honor Jim’s life, his contributions, and the profound impact he has had on the global community. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and all who were touched by his remarkable spirit. May his memory be a blessing.
11/21/2024
The Charlie Foundation has you covered for keto Thanksgiving Recipes! Click the link to download our free e-book filled with a complete keto Thanksgiving menu. We would love to see what recipes you are eating, please share pictures in the comments!
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Nehemiah, along with his family who is featured in the book is a keto super star! You can read about his amazing keto journey including an exciting update from this past summer. We hope his story is inspiring and helpful to someone who needs hope and encouragement. Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Charlie Foundation.
Lindsey Thompson is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who specializes in ketogenic diets for infants at Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics, KS, USA. Lindsey’s work has shown that ketogenic diets are safe for babies. Her team published a study showing that even breastfed babies go into ketosis.
Nehemiah is featured in Episode 5 of the Pokemon Trainer Tour that dropped on Amazon Prime Today! He is in episode 5 and the Ketogenic diet gets a strong shout out!
Nehe continues to thrives in life – excelling in Mathematics at a Twice Exceptional School in Tarzana! Thank you for all you did for us – I know our life would NOT have gone the same with out the Charlie Foundation. Read his story here - https://linktr.ee/charliefoundation
06/29/2024
The Charlie Foundation is happy to announce this upcoming webinar hosted by our friends at . Link to register can be found in our profile link under "Upcoming Events".
Public Eye, a non-profit watch dog organization found that Nestlé, the largest food company in the world, adds sugar to baby milk and cereal that are sold to poorer nations but not to wealthy nations. This is a travesty that not only exposes abject discrimination but has negative health outcomes for children.
KetoDietCalculator Phase I upgrades will be uploaded on 4pm ET on Friday, May 10th. A notice is posted on the front page of KetoDietCalculator indicating the 2-hour period when the program will be offline. The upgrade will take only minutes, but the majority of time is our testing of all features before going live.
The first change that you will notice are stylistic enhancements, bringing KetoDietCalcualtor into the 21st Century! There are improvements in navigation, and in user-friendly formatting making the program easier for everyone to use.
One major change is the location of the link to Table Maintenance which is now your “Account” in the upper right corner of the page. This is where you will access the background tables for adding Food, Supplements and Medications to your organization’s database. This is also the link to access “Settings” where you may add professional users and assign their roles such as “Admin”, “Can Edit” or “View Only”. Adding professional users sets the tracking system which identifies separate work tracks for each professional user if you are audited by your organization. This was a previous feature but one that is worth mentioning if you share your login with other nutritionists. You can also change your password and email address though this same link (in Settings).
Other improvements include installing a Nexus system to optimize speed, performance and tighten security. KetoDietCalculator resides on a private server and is fully encrypted.
KetoDietCalculator depends 100% on donations for maintenance and upgrades. Phase I upgrades were possible through a generous donation from the Baszucki Group. Phase II upgrade planning is already in motion.
Please consider an annual donation through The Charlie Foundation’s website via the Donate link to support maintenance and upgrades of this valuable program.
Beth Zupec-Kania, RDN, CD
Ketogenic Therapies, LLC
05/01/2024
P Is for patience, and patience is cool Whenever you fish in McElligot’s pool.
But P ‘s also for patients but there is a chill When you try to swap diets for popping a pill.
For everyone knows, except for a few
That pills are the answer to what ere ails you.
Doctors love pills, and companies too,
To deliver the treatments and profits – It’s true
But a diet made up of all buttery fat To control someone’s seizures –
Now who thought of that?
McGelligott’s Pill, 2008
Original poem by: John Freeman, M.D. (1993-2014), former Director of Neurology, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Charlie’s neurologist
Glenna Steele, Director of Glut-1 Deficiency Foundation learned about keto through The Charlie Foundation for her daughter’s new diagnosis. Glut1 Deficiency is a rare genetic condition that impairs brain metabolism. Glucose isn't transported properly across the blood brain barrier and into the brain, preventing it from growing, developing, and functioning the way it should. A ketogenic diet is the standard of care for Glut1 Deficiency and is recommended as the first line treatment. The earlier that patients are treated, the better the outcomes.
You can learn more about Glucose Transporter Protein Type 1 Deficiency Syndrome by visiting their website: https://www.g1dfoundation.org
Learn more about the Charlie Foundation and our mission to support ketogenic therapies and access to qualified ketogenic medical professionals at https://charliefoundation.org
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The Charlie Foundation was established in 1994 in order to raise awareness about the ketogenic diet as a treatment for childhood epilepsy. The modern success of the diet has led to new demands on the medical community and an expansion of the therapy to neurological disorders and cancers. In order to meet these demands, the Charlie Foundation has enhanced its mission to include educational programs and support for families, dietitians, neurologists and researchers.
The ketogenic diet controls epilepsy in patients with difficult-to-control seizures at a significantly higher rate than any drug or combination of drugs. The success of the diet for epilepsy has been recognized by medical professionals for over ninety years. The diet has also more recently been administered as a therapy for improving other neurological conditions and arresting cancers.
Over one billion people in the world have neurological disorders, including fifty million people who live with epilepsy, and the prevalence of cancers is even greater. A renewed interest in the ketogenic diet has brought together many of the best minds in research to advance knowledge and treatment of these disorders.
The Charlie Foundation’s mission is to offer solutions for the treatment of epilepsy, neurological disorders, and cancers, and to provide resources and educational information to an expanding network of medical professionals, caregivers and patients. Our vision is to create and support initiatives that bring our global community closer to illness prevention and treatment solutions.
About the Foundation
In 1993, 11 month old Charlie Abrahams developed difficult to control epilepsy. As a last resort, while Charlie was experiencing multiple daily seizures and multiple daily medications, his parents turned to a Ketogenic Diet for help. The diet worked. Charlie became seizure and drug free within a month. He was on the diet for five years and now eats whatever he wants. He has never had another seizure.
The Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies was founded in 1994 to provide information about diet therapies for people with epilepsy, other neurological disorders and select cancers.
Since our inception it has been confirmed thousands of times anecdotally as well as by a randomized controlled study that the ketogenic diet improves most children and adults with uncontrolled seizures and many, like Charlie, become drug and seizure free and return to a normal diet.
In recent years, less restrictive versions of the ketogenic diet have been developed making it accessible to a larger segment of the epilepsy population (estimated at over 60 million people worldwide). Today there are over 200 hospitals worldwide with ketogenic diet programs. In the USA, advanced-level epilepsy treatment centers are required to provide ketogenic diet therapy.
New applications of the ketogenic diet for cancer, autism, ALS, Parkinson’s Disease, type-2 diabetes, and traumatic brain injury have emerged. Scientific data regarding these new uses of diet therapy is accumulating rapidly. Variations of the ketogenic diet for these other disorders are being developed. Today, it is the Charlie Foundation’s expanded mission not only to champion ketogenic diet therapy for epilepsy, but provide up-to-date information regarding its expanded use and variations. To this end we have re-named ourselves “The Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies”.
