Most of the patients with Diabetes know that high blood sugar can lead to
Diabetic Foot, Eye Diseases, and Nerve Diseases and so on. However, many of them
do not know Diabetes is also an important inducement of kidney disease.
Therefore, many patients with Diabetic Nephropathy can not receive treatments
until they have obvious clinical symptoms. In fact, in the early period of
Diabetic Nephropathy, it is very important for the patients to alleviate their
renal injury and prevent their disease from developing into End Stage Renal
Failure. In the prevention of Diabetes, diet plays an important role.
1. Low-protein diet: After we eat foods with proteins, the proteins will
convert into urea when they are dissolved by liver. However, with the renal
function declining, the kidneys can not excrete the urea normally as before.
Consequently, the urea will accumulate in body and convert to uremic toxins.
Therefore, in order to alleviate the burden to kidneys, the patients with
Diabetic Nephropathy should keep a low-protein diet. When the patients with
Diabetic Nephropathy should primarily take their disease condition in
consideration and limit their protein intake differently in different stage of
Diabetic Nephropathy.
2. Supply essential amino-acid: Amino-acid is the essential unit of protein.
We must obtain essential amino-acid from foods. However, the patients with
Diabetic Nephropathy have to limit their protein intake, which is very likely to
lead to malnutrition for the patients themselves. Therefore, in order to
guarantee sufficient nutrition supplement, the patients have to keep proper
essential amino-acid intake.
3. Salt intake: If the patients with Diabetes do not have any symptom,
generally speaking, they need not to keep a strict limitation on their salt
intake and can keep salt intake within 6 grams. However, if they are complicated
with high blood pressure and edema, they should limit their salt intake within
3~5 grams per day. Limiting sodium intake usually can lead to poor appetite thus
influencing the intake of protein and calorie. Therefore, the patients should
consider their tolerance and regulate their sodium intake based on their renal
function and sodium level in blood.
A healthy diet can help the patients with Diabetic Nephropathy slow down
their renal function decline effectively. However, the diet therapy is just an
assistant method for the patients. In order to prevent their disease from
developing into End Stage Renal Failure, they should receive treatment as early
as possible.