Low Carb Diets and Kidney Disease | When Its Good To Use & When Its Bad. Kidney Disease Low Carb Diet
Today we’re talking about low carb diets and kidney disease. When it’s good when it’s not good. This piece of research is titled Low Carbohydrate Diet Score and Mortality in Adults with and without Chronic Kidney Disease: Results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was published December 28, 2021 in the Journal of Renal Nutrition.
They looked at low carbohydrate diets and when we talk about low carbohydrate diets we’re talking about having less bread, less rice, less pasta, less cereal, less crackers. These are the carbohydrates that we’re talking about restricting. In turn, people usually end up having more protein which is common or more fats to replace the carbohydrates. What they noted here was that people with kidney disease who were on a low carbohydrate diet had a higher risk of dying that’s mortality.
People without any kidney disease issues had no problem. You can go on a low carbohydrate diet high protein you have healthy, great kidneys. They don’t have any type of decreased kidney function and it’s not an issue. Now, people with kidney disease it gets a little trickier when it comes to low carbohydrate diets because of all the research out there. For most people, a low carbohydrate diet isn’t indicated if you have kidney disease it can make your situation worse because you’re having generally more protein more fats that cause other issues. Protein in particular is hard on the kidneys. If you decide to do a a low carb diet you want to have more plant-based proteins. That’s a better way to go, but when is it helpful?
if you’re a diabetic who just got diagnosed with diabetic Nephropathy diabetic kidney disease and you’re in stage one or two and even the beginnings of stage three it seems that using a low carb diet which would then be higher protein higher fats is beneficial because it helps control the blood sugar which is a major issue. Generally, as you control the blood sugar the kidney disease will improve and if you lose any weight that’s also where the kidney disease will improve.
The second group of people that can benefit from a low carbohydrate diet with kidney disease is if you have to lose a lot of weight. One thing that they noted in other research was that weight loss seems to seems to trump all; meaning if you lose weight no matter what type of diet you have and if you have a significant amount of weight to lose so if you’re obese or morbidly obese and you can lose a significant amount of weight didn’t matter the diet people follow they improve their kidney function. This is because when you’re losing weight there’s less stress on the kidney, less food going through the kidney, less work the kidney has to do. The kidney doesn’t have to produce as much hormones because you don’t have as much body mass.
That’s where low carbohydrate is really beneficial. For the most part, a low carbohydrate diet for kidney disease for the majority of people is not good, you’re going to make the situation worse. It could be beneficial but you should always check with a professional. With diabetic nephropathy, diabetic kidney disease, in the early stages that’s stage one two maybe three, it’s got to be evaluated individually and the other group of people are people who need to lose a lot of weight. That’s where the low carbohydrate diets can be beneficial for people with kidney disease, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach with a low carbohydrate diet.
Kidney disease can cause a lot of issues if you are going to do a low carbohydrate diet and you have kidney disease you want to protect your kidney by taking good supplements, making sure you get lots of fiber, lots of vegetables, drinking adequate water, and a proper, couple proper well-placed supplements. This will really go far.
