Diets for patients with chronic kidney disease, should we reconsider?

Abstract

Here we revisit how dietary factors could affect the treatment of patients with complications of chronic kidney disease (CKD), bringing to the attention of the reader the most recent developments in the field. We will briefly discuss five CKD-induced complications that are substantially improved by dietary manipulation: 1) metabolic acidosis and the progression of CKD; 2) improving the diet to take advantage of the benefits of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) on slowing the progression of CKD; 3) the diet and mineral bone disorders in CKD; 4) the safety of nutritional methods utilizing dietary protein restriction; and 5) evidence that new strategies can treat the loss of lean body mass that is commonly present in patients with CKD.

Fig. 1

Diet enriched in fruits and vegetables in amounts was administered in order to reduce dietary acid load by 50 %. Patients with stage 2 CKD who received this dietary intervention for 30 days experienced significant improvements in the potential renal acid load, 8-h urine net acid excretion, urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio and urine TGF-β. Abbreviations: CKD, chronic kidney disease; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; TGF-β, transforming growth factor β. Results from Goraya et al. [16]