Which Diet and When to Start It, in Patients with Chronic Renal Disease

Invited Review: Nutrition and the Kidney: How to Manage Patients With Renal Failure

“…The general guidelines for dietary treatment of CRF must satisfy the following policies: (1) to reduce the intake of nitrogen, which should, however, be qualitatively and quantitatively adequate for equilibrium of the nitrogen balance; (2) to cover EAA requirements; (3) to provide enough energy intake (mostly from carbohydrates) to reduce protein breakdown; (4) to be palatable; and (5) to be inexpensive.$ 8 In line with these statements, nephrologists face some possibilities: the unsupplemented low-nitrogen diet with proteins of high biologic value (HBV); the EAA-supplemented diets; and the diets supplemented with ketoanalogs of EAAs (KAAs). An additional possibility may be the pure vegetarian diet, which supplies a limited amount of proteins that are complementary in their EAA contents and meets the caloric needs with cereals and fats.…”