Nowadays, vegetarian diet is very popular among the young and old people. While, for CKD patients, is it good for them? Wanna the answer? Then, following the article, you will get a well understanding.

What is a vegetarian diet?

vegetarian diet refers that a person who follows a specific diet and has specific foods choices which include plant foods such as vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes and so on. Research shows that a plant-based diet may slow down some symptoms and complications of chronic kidney disease such as heart disease, protein loss in urine and the progression of kidney damage.

What can CKD patients get benefits from vegetarian diet?

Vegetarian diets can meet the higher protein needs of a kidney disease patients. Protein is made up of chains of amino acids, which are sometimes referred to as the building blocks of life. Plant foods contain most of the essential amino acids, such as soy, are considered as complete protein foods because it provides all the essential amino acids. And plant protein can provide adequate and high -quality protein into your kidney diet.

Plant protein sources have been shown to:

Decreased protein in the urine (proteinuria)

Slow the decline of glomerular filtration rate and kidney blood flow

Result in less kidney tissues damage when compared to animal protein

Improve lipid (blood fat) profile of the blood

Then, is there any risk to consume vegetarian diet for CKD patients?

Yes! As we all know, all kidney disease patients have strict dietary limitation. In general, they are suggested to limit intake of protein, sodium, phosphorus and potassium, while, some vegetarian diets including fruits and vegetables are high in phosphorus and potassium which can increase kidney’s burden and cause the further damage to kidneys, such as banana, apple, peach, spinach, cabbage, sunflower seeds and so on. To reduce sodium intake, you should keep away from the high sodium foods, such as salted nuts, frozen entrees, savory snacks, etc.

Through the above analysis, we can find that vegetarian diet bring more benefits than harms. Actually, if you want a vegetarian diet with kidney disease, at the same time, you should always find the kidney-friendly diet. Only do this, can you benefit a lot from a vegetarian diet. If you still have no idea what you can eat or not, please contact with online doctors or leave a message to renal-disease@hotmail.com.