Diet Novelties .com

„…PHILADELPHIA Kidney disease patients can slow progression of their illness, and perhaps delay going on dialysis, by reducing protein in their diet, researchers report.

“We’re not curing (the disease), but slowing the process down. That’s about the best we can do right now,” said Dr. Ping H. Wang, an author of the analysis.

A detailed analysis of five earlier studies involving diabetics and five studies of non-diabetics suffering from chronic kidney disease shows a 30 percent reduction in complications with a low-protein diet, he said. The findings are “statistically highly significant,” said Wang, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California at Irvine. For non-diabetics, the analysis recommends a protein intake of 0.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, or about 1.5 ounces a day for a 160-pound person, significantly less than the average amount of protein intake, Wang said. More than 20 million Americans suffer diseases of the kidney and urinary tract, and more than 90,000 die each year. About 200,000 have chronic kidney failure and need an artificial kidney machine to live. The findings, published in today’s issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, are important to patients and doctors, said Dr. Garabed Eknoyan, vice president of the National Kidney Foundation and a medical professor at Baylor University in Texas. “This type of analysis sort of confirms that protein restriction is effective and why doctors should not be letting kidney patients running around eating anything that they want,” he said. Telling someone to stick to their diet doesn’t always work, but being able to cite specific data may help, Eknoyan said. “It does slow it down significantly,” he said. “It not only helps the individual, but in the long-term it keeps patients off dialysis . . . saving money.”…”