Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Nov 04, 2024 19 hours, 42 minutes ago
Diets And Nutrition: Hope for Kidney Patients: The Power of a Special Diet
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects millions globally, with a gradual and often irreversible decline in kidney function. A primary issue in CKD is the loss of podocytes, specialized cells critical for filtering waste from the blood. These cells, part of the kidney's filtration system, cannot regenerate easily once damaged, causing a gradual decline towards end-stage kidney disease. However, a new study by researchers from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles-USA and the University of Southern California (USC)-USA brings fresh hope to the field.
New Study Reveals That Fasting Diet Shows Promise for Boosting Kidney Health
The research team, led by Laura Perin, Ph.D., Co-Director of the GOFARR Laboratory at The Saban Research Institute, and Valter Longo, Ph.D., Professor at USC Longevity Institute, tested a unique dietary approach on animal models with chronic kidney disease. This
Diets and Nutrition news report explores how the study team designed a low-salt fasting-mimicking diet (LS-FMD) to aid kidney function and observed surprising results, which could inspire similar approaches in human CKD patients.
How the Diet Works: Slowing Kidney Deterioration
The research involved feeding a group of rats with chronic kidney disease an LS-FMD. This diet mimicked the effects of fasting while still providing essential nutrients. Six cycles of the diet slowed kidney deterioration in these animal models and, crucially, induced the regeneration of podocytes, restoring the kidney's filtration structures. The animals also displayed a significant reduction in markers of kidney damage, including albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels, key indicators of kidney health.
According to Dr. Perin, these results signal a promising breakthrough: "Long-term kidney function and structure showed improvements, with kidney structures resembling those of healthy rats." This special diet, she noted, appeared to reprogram the podocytes on a molecular level, showing the potential for kidney regeneration even in cases of severe kidney disease.
Clinical Study with Human Participants
Building on the promising animal results, the research team conducted a small clinical trial with 13 human participants suffering from chronic kidney disease. Patients who followed the fasting-mimicking diet showed reduced protein levels in their urine (a condition known as proteinuria) and improvements in blood vessel function compared to those who didn’t participate in the diet. This result is especially notable, as proteinuria is a common and serious complication of kidney disease.
Interestingly, the improvement in kidney function and reduction in proteinuria persisted up to a year after the diet cycles ended, showing that even a short-term intervention could lead to long-lasting health benefits. Dr. Longo highlighted that these findings underscore the importance of further study into the fasting-mimic
king diet as a possible intervention for progressive kidney diseases. He pointed out that this dietary approach could shift gene expression patterns in a way that slows kidney degradation.
Examining the Science Behind Kidney Regeneration
Podocytes are critical players in kidney function. In CKD, damage to these cells leads to progressive kidney failure. Traditional therapies for CKD focus on slowing disease progression, often with medication to manage symptoms and prevent further damage, but they rarely reverse the disease. The researchers discovered that cycles of the fasting-mimicking diet reprogrammed gene activity within kidney cells, promoting cellular processes similar to those seen in kidney development.
The study also found that the LS-FMD activated pathways associated with podocyte-lineage reprogramming, which essentially pushed damaged cells to take on a less active, "quiescent" state. By doing so, the diet helped stabilize kidney structures in the rat model, reducing the usual progression toward kidney failure. In human participants, the diet led to increased circulating progenitor cells, which are crucial for tissue repair and regeneration.
Potential for Broader Application and Further Research
The results from both the animal model and the pilot human study suggest that fasting-mimicking diets could potentially be developed into a broader treatment strategy for CKD. Since the diet appeared to have kidney-specific benefits, it opens doors for researchers to investigate if similar diets could be tailored to help manage other degenerative diseases.
The researchers also emphasized the importance of continuing clinical trials with a larger patient pool to understand the full implications of this diet on kidney disease. Future research could also explore the duration and frequency of fasting-mimicking diets needed to achieve optimal kidney protection and function. While these early results are promising, CKD patients should wait for more conclusive research before attempting any such diet independently.
Conclusion: A New Era in Kidney Health?
This study presents an encouraging new approach to chronic kidney disease management. By using a diet that mimics fasting, researchers have taken a step closer to finding a treatment that might reverse some of the damage in CKD. Although more extensive studies are necessary to determine its safety and effectiveness for widespread use, this research offers hope for the millions affected by chronic kidney disease who currently have limited treatment options.
For those managing CKD, this research could lead to future dietary therapies that not only prevent but possibly reverse kidney damage.
The study findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal: Science Translational Medicine.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adl5514
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