Safety of Low-Protein Diets: Where's the Beef?

Abstract

The earliest signs of renal impairment in the diabetic patient traditionally marked the onset of an era of frustration for both physician and patient. Aside from meticulous control of hypertension, there was little to do to alter the inexorable course to dialysis or transplantation. However, if the recent reports touting the benefits of low-protein diets are correct, all of this may soon change; these diets may delay or prevent end-stage renal insufficiency. The question is whether these diets are safe as well as efficacious.The diabetic patient is of special concern. These diets will be superimposed on existing abnormalities in insulin-mediated processes. Even subtle changes in substrate metabolism can be expected to have a profound cumulative impact over years of treatment. Our ability to detect evidence of early nephropathy makes it tempting to apply this therapy for relatively long periods.Low-protein diets, as they are currently formulated, are composed of unstandardized and variable combinations of carbohydrate (CHO), fat, and protein. There is no agreement on the degree of protein reduction or optimum ratios of complex to simple CHO, unsaturated to saturated fat, and biologically high-quality to lowquality protein. Thus, whereas these diets may be the Creatinine 1 (JLM = 0.011 mg/dlCreatinine clearance 1 ml/s = 60 ml/min

A phase transition in H2O due to electrostriction pressure

“…5 The latent heat accompanying the transition has also been observed at a Hg/aqueous electrolyte interface. 28,29 The above E values fall well into the range where Chu et al 5 observed the transitions at the RuO 2 electrode by synchrotron radiation X-ray scattering methods. Also, these values fall very close to the field acting on the water molecules lying at the maximum of RDF in the first hydration shell of the Sr 2+ ion, which enabled us to provide a tentative explanation of its peculiar properties revealed by neutron scattering.…”

“…Yet another study concerned the mercury/aqueous electrolyte interface. By laser temperature jump method at 293 K thermal phenomena have been observed 28,29 which were interpreted by the Authors as accompanying a phase transition. In a field of strength 10 9 V m À1 changes in entropy S have been found of the same order of magnitude as that seen in our Fig.…”

Modeling of Charge−Potential Isotherms of Anodic Monolayers Using the Ising Lattice Gas Model

“…Lattice models have been used in molecular modeling of adsorption. − We have shown in several papers, − that the Ising lattice gas model is a valid model for 2D first-order phase transitions, contrary to the Frumkin model. The Ising lattice gas model considers the existence of 2D gas clusters and 2D liquid clusters (the Frumkin model only monomers) and the corresponding possible configurations.…”