Kidney Disease Diet for Acute Renal Failure

Here are some of the pointers that are being focused on the Kidney Disease Diet for Acute Renal Failure (ARF) treatment:



Nutritional needs are also determined by the treatments that are used by the patient such as dialysis. Another determinant of nutrition and diet is the cause of ARF. There are generalized variations in patients who have trauma, burns, or infections to those who had ARF caused by other diseases. In addition, some diseases and medications affect the patient’s appetite thus increasing the need for nutritional balance.
Enough energy should be provided for patients with acute renal failure to be able to provide sufficient amount of weight maintenance and to meet the demands of stress accompanying ARF, usually 30-40 kcal/kg of body weight.
Fats, oils and simple carbohydrates, and low protein starches should provide non protein kilo calories.
In cases where dialysis is not a treatment option, protein should be regulated to 0.6 grams per kilogram body weight. While this is a well accepted value, it should not exceed more than 40 grams on any person.
When you are on dialysis, it is much less restrictive on protein as it can be individualized to 1.0 to 1.4 g/kg of body weight.
On both occasions, however, the use of biologically high value proteins is strongly recommended.
During the oliguric phase, sodium salt might be restricted to 1000 to 2000 mg and potassium to 1000 mg per day. These are two of the most vital electrolytes that the body needs and they may be lost during the period of frequent urination. Thus, replacement might be necessary.
Fluids are also monitored closely. They are replaced basing upon how much water does the body get rid of each day including vomit, urine and diarrhea.

Kidney Disease Diet for Dialysis

The kidney disease diet for dialysis controls the intake of fluid, protein, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. One question that is often asked is whether or not protein is restricted in a dialysis diet. Well, the answer is that it depends upon the status of your kidneys. Also, the amount nutrients in the diet are based on your blood levels of sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, albumin, and urea. These levels are measured before and immediately after a dialysis treatment.

Fluid restriction is based on the amount of urine output and weight gain between dialysis treatments. That is, whatever goes out of your body in liquid form (including vomitus and sweat), has to be replaced with water. Monitoring and taking note of your daily weight would be a good practice to indicate fluid retention which suggests kidney deterioration.

Preservation of renal function can delay the need for dialysis therapy. It can be accomplished by controlling the disease process, by controlling blood pressure and by reducing dietary protein intake and catabolism.
A kidney disease diet for dialysis patient depends on specific adjustments of dietary elements through the results of the client’s blood chemistry studies. Although there is some debate over whether and how to restrict proteins, keeping the daily intake of protein of high biologic value below 50 g may slow the progression of renal failure.

The amount of protein you can eat is based on how well your kidneys are functioning and the amount of protein needed to maintain good health. When protein is used by the body, waste products are formed and enter the blood. One of these wastes is called urea. Normal healthy kidneys are good at getting rid of urea. Failing kidneys are not good at this, but kidney patients should still eat protein.

As the renal disease progresses, the client’s ability and willingness to take in adequate nutrition diminish and the challenge becomes not only to maintain appropriate intake of nonprotein calories but also to satisfy protein needs. In these instances, elemental diets, enteral feedings or total parenteral nutrition may be used instead of or in addition to regular food intake. This is why kidney dialysis diet is so important in order for patients to follow a proper balance of electrolytes, minerals, and fluid in patients who are on dialysis.