The low-carbohydrate, high-fat Atkins diet has been gaining popularity in recent years with people looking to shed unwanted pounds.

But researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore say the diet might also play a role in preventing seizures in children with epilepsy.

But the researchers caution that their study is preliminary -- it included only six patients. They said the findings shouldn't cause other epileptic children to switch to an Atkins diet.

Right now, children with seizures that are difficult to control are often put on a rigorous high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet. While the Atkins diet is similar to the ketogenic diet, it's slightly less restrictive.

The ketogenic diet mimics some of the effects of starvation, in which the body first uses up glucose and glycogen before burning stored body fat. In the absence of glucose, the body produces ketones, a chemical byproduct of fat that can inhibit seizures.

In the Hopkins study, five of the six patients studied attained ketosis within days of starting the Atkins diet, and most of the patients reported that the diet controlled their seizures.

"We just don't know yet how effective the Atkins diet is in reducing seizures or if it comes close to the benefits of the ketogenic diet, but our report raises new questions about the ideal level of calorie and protein restriction imposed by the ketogenic diet," said Dr. Eric Kossoff, the study's lead author and a pediatric neurologist at the Children's Center.

Kossoff said it's possible that some children who can't tolerate the restrictiveness of the ketogenic diet could be helped with the Atkins diet instead.

He said that if children were to lose an unhealthy amount of weight on the Atkins diet, the patient would be instructed to eat more fats and proteins.