Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Dec 25;16(1):66.
doi: 10.3390/nu16010066.

Vegetarian Nutrition in Chronic Kidney Disease

Yoko Narasaki  1   2 , Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh  2   3   4 , Connie M Rhee  1   4   5 , Giuliano Brunori  6   7 , Diana Zarantonello  6
Affiliations
Review

Vegetarian Nutrition in Chronic Kidney Disease

Yoko Narasaki et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

There is rising interest globally with respect to the health implications of vegetarian or plant-based diets. A growing body of evidence has demonstrated that higher consumption of plant-based foods and the nutrients found in vegetarian and plant-based diets are associated with numerous health benefits, including improved blood pressure, glycemic control, lipid levels, body mass index, and acid-base parameters. Furthermore, there has been increasing recognition that vegetarian and plant-based diets may have potential salutary benefits in preventing the development and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). While increasing evidence shows that vegetarian and plant-based diets have nephroprotective effects, there remains some degree of uncertainty about their nutritional adequacy and safety in CKD (with respect to protein-energy wasting, hyperkalemia, etc.). In this review, we focus on the potential roles of and existing data on the efficacy/effectiveness and safety of various vegetarian and plant-based diets in CKD, as well as their practical application in CKD management.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease; nutrition; plant-based diet; vegetarian diet.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Characteristics of nutrients and components in plant-based vs. animal-based diets. Abbreviations: ALA, α-linolenic acid; B1, vitamin B1; B6, vitamin B6; B12, vitamin B12, Ca, calcium; D, vitamin D; DHA, docosahexaenoic acid; EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid; Fe, iron; K, potassium; Mg, magnesium; MUFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids; phytochem, phytochemicals; Pi, phosphorus; PUFAs, total polyunsaturated fatty acids; SFAs, saturated fatty acids; Zn, zinc.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plant-based diets and health benefits in chronic kidney disease. Abbreviations: ALA, α-linolenic acid; CKD, chronic kidney disease; CVD, cardiovascular disease; ESKD, end-stage kidney disease; MUFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids; PUFAs, total polyunsaturated fatty acids; SFAs, saturated fatty acids.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Potential mechanisms contributing to the lower bioavailability of potassium from plant-based foods. Abbreviations: K, potassium.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Potential dietary factors related to the risk of hyperkalemia. Lower absolute dietary potassium intake and/or having a diet with lower potassium bioavailability following consumption of healthy plant-based diets composed of unprocessed plant-based foods could result in a reduced risk of hyperkalemia. On the other hand, higher absolute dietary potassium intake and/or having a diet with higher potassium bioavailability following consumption of animal-based foods and processed foods could result in increased risk of hyperkalemia. Abbreviations: K, potassium.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Medawar E., Huhn S., Villringer A., Veronica Witte A. The effects of plant-based diets on the body and the brain: A systematic review. Transl. Psychiatry. 2019;9:226. doi: 10.1038/s41398-019-0552-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Satija A., Bhupathiraju S.N., Rimm E.B., Spiegelman D., Chiuve S.E., Borgi L., Willett W.C., Manson J.E., Sun Q., Hu F.B. Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women: Results from Three Prospective Cohort Studies. PLoS Med. 2016;13:e1002039. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002039. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Satija A., Bhupathiraju S.N., Spiegelman D., Chiuve S.E., Manson J.E., Willett W., Rexrode K.M., Rimm E.B., Hu F.B. Healthful and Unhealthful Plant-Based Diets and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in U.S. Adults. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2017;70:411–422. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2017.05.047. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baden M.Y., Liu G., Satija A., Li Y., Sun Q., Fung T.T., Rimm E.B., Willett W.C., Hu F.B., Bhupathiraju S.N. Changes in Plant-Based Diet Quality and Total and Cause-Specific Mortality. Circulation. 2019;140:979–991. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.041014. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bellizzi V., Cupisti A., Locatelli F., Bolasco P., Brunori G., Cancarini G., Caria S., De Nicola L., Di Iorio B.R., Di Micco L., et al. Low-protein diets for chronic kidney disease patients: The Italian experience. BMC Nephrol. 2016;17:77. doi: 10.1186/s12882-016-0280-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed