A healthy diet is important for the treatment of IgA Nephropathy. It can slow
down its progression thus alleviating renal damage. Therefore, the patients with
IgA Nephropathy should make a proper diet plan.
1. The patients with IgA Nephropathy should keep a low-salt diet.
With the decline in renal function, it can cause retention of water and
sodium thus causing edema. High-sodium can aggravate the original symptoms so it
is better for the patients with IgA Nephropathy to keep a low-sodium diet. They
should keep their salt intake within 2~3 grams per day or even less when they
have serious high blood pressure and edema.
2. Keep a low-protein diet
Proteinuria is a common symptom of patients with IgA Nephropathy. Protein
loss is harmful to patients such as causing malnutrition, aggravating edema and
so on. Therefore, in order to avoid or alleviate those problems, they should
have necessary protein intake. However, large protein intake can cause much
damage to kidneys. Therefore, the patients should have proper protein intake
such as lean food, fish, skimmed milk, egg white and so on.
3. Limit fat intake in their diet
Many patients with IgA Nephropathy have high cholesterol, which may cause
hyperlipidaemia. If the lipid level is too high in blood, it can increase the
chance of developing heart disease and so on. Therefore, the patients with IgA
Nephropathy should keep a low-fat diet.
In addition, the patients with IgA Nephropathy usually have electrolyte
disturbance and often developed hyperkalemia and hyperphosphatemia. Therefore,
the patients should keep a low-potassium and low-phosphorus diet.
The above article has just introduced a general diet principle for most of
the patients with IgA Nephropathy. However, different patients have different
disease conditions. Therefore, the patients should make a proper diet principle
based on their test results with their doctors’ guidance.