Gemma Atkinson's daughter has been diagnosed with epilepsy. The former Hollyoaks star shares her six-year-old Mia with Strictly star Gorka Marquez. The pair, who got engaged in 2021, welcomed Mia in 2019 and their son Thiago in 2023.
Gemma has now revealed that Mia is undergoing treatment for epilepsy after suffering absence seizures, as well as symptoms such as loss of awareness. She explained this on her podcast, Just As Well, The Women's Health Podcast.
She said: "It’s interesting the link between the keto diet and brain health because my daughter is under treatment for epilepsy. She has the absence seizures, she doesn’t fit or anything, it’s just a stare out and they’ve got so much better, a year in.
"When I was told that I was like, right I need to research, research, research and I went down a rabbit hole. The keto diet was designed for patients with epilepsy because it re wires their brain function."
Gemma explained that medical professionals advised her to put Mia on a keto diet to improve her overall brain health. She continued: "The doctor told me, 'If you can get her on a keto diet, it could help with brain function'.
"The improvement that we’ve had, I mean we’re constantly monitoring but the last six months she’s had none, touch wood. The school have reported none, we’ve not seen anything.
"She has an omelet everyday for breakfast and I put collagen in her yoghurt without her knowing. It [keto diet] was given to epilepsy patients back in the day, in the 1930s it was discovered and it really helped all of the symptoms and everything went down.
"But then the doctor who discovered this, his hospital miraculously got burnt down, with all the research and everything."
Epilepsy is a condition which affects the brain and causes seizures. It cannot be cured, but treatment can help manage it.
Absence seizures involve a brief loss of awareness of what's going on around you. It's one of many types of seizures that can be brought about by epilepsy.
Gemma met Gorka on strictly-come-dancing>Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, when she was partnered with Aljaz Skorjanec. The pair have been engaged for four years and are planning their wedding.
She told Express.co.uk: "We've toyed about doing it in Spain, so his family can come, and we've even thought about doing it in a registry office or a hotel in Manchester, just the two of us, and then have a big party after.
"But I think now we want to wait until Thiago is a bit older, so maybe next year or the year after, as he's only two. If he's a bit older, he could be involved in it, which would be really nice."
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