Dietary management of chronic kidney disease

Abstract

Diet in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a component of medical therapy and in recent years the term diet has been replaced by nutritional-dietary therapy. Food modulation permits to control metabolic changes that gradually will be established during the disease and to reduce complications that may arise delaying renal death and the need for replacement therapy. Protein restriction is the key point of the diet in conservative management of CKD. Many Authors state that diet could induce malnutrition, but literature shows that if the diet is well formulated and if it is followed by a properly trained staff, the patient’s nutritional status is well preserved. In our center nutritional-dietary therapy recommended in CKD stage 4-5 is a diet with 0.6-0.7 g of protein per kg of body weight, using low-protein food. The approach we propose is a weekly chart with quantity and frequency of food agreed with the patient. The diet takes into account the national Guidelines for nutrition and the principles of the diet for the nutritional management of patients with CKD. Then, according to the habits, the tastes and the needs of the patients, the amounts of food and weekly frequencies are fixed. In this way, in our experience, we can meet the needs of our patients and have a better compliance.