Vegetarian-Vegan Diet: Good for Kidney

Vegetarian (Vegan) diet, study says patients with kidney disease can avoid collecting phosphorus levels of toxins in their bodies.

Patients with kidney disease should limit intake of phosphorus. Mineral levels are too high can lead to heart disease and death.

Medical guidelines recommend low-phosphorus diet for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Sharon Moe from the Indiana University School of Medicine, studied the effects of a vegetarian diet and consumption of meat based on phosphorus levels in nine patients.

Patients were asked to follow a vegetarian diet and another group of patients follow a meat-based diet for one week, then each group went with the opposite pattern of eating two to four weeks. Blood and urine tests done every weekend.

Seen patients have blood phosphorus levels lower and decreased phosphate excretion in the urine when they undergo a vegetarian diet when compared with meat-based diet.

The researchers conclude, the source of protein in the diet has a significant effect on phosphorus levels in patients (CKD). The study appears in the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN), last December edition.