Low-protein diet delays dialysis

A low protein diet can help postpone the need for dialysis in elderly non-diabetic people with failing kidneys. Italian researchers investigated the safety and efficacy of a very-low-protein diet in decreasing the symptoms of kidney failure and postponing the start of dialysis in patients 70 years of age or older with chronic kidney disease that had progressed to the point where they would normally start dialysis. They assigned 56 patients to the diet, and another 56 were started on dialysis. The intervention diet was vegan-based, with no more than 0.3 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily, but supplemented with essential amino acids and vitamins. Over the next two years, 40 of the very-low-protein diet-treated patients had to begin dialysis therapy, but it was delayed by an average of nearly 10 months after beginning the diet. One-year survival rates did not differ significantly between the dialysis and diet groups, at 84 percent and 87percent, respectively. The very-low-protein-diet group had significantly lesser hospitalisations with fewer days in the hospital than did the dialysis group, even after adjustment for differences in age. In normal elderly kidney patients without a lot of other health problems, the diet does not induce malnutrition and is not life-threatening. Patients' and families' burden can be reduced and a tremendous amount of money saved if only 25 percent of elderly patients could be treated with this diet.