Nutrition
Nutrition is essential to good kidney health. This pair of fist-sized organs play a very important role in regulating the body’s balance of salts and minerals, such as phosphorus, sodium, potassium and calcium.
The role of the kidneys
As a kind of filtering organ, the kidneys regularly process blood containing nutrients found in food. An overabundance of certain compounds (such as fats, proteins, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, and toxins) can stress the kidneys, causing them to work harder to the point of damaging themselves. In addition, if any of these compounds aren’t filtered correctly, the buildup of waste in your blood can make you feel sick and lead to serious health problems, including high blood pressure, anemia, weak bones and nerve damage.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD), which refers to gradual and irreversible damage to the kidneys over time, affects 1 in 7 adults in the U.S. Even worse, 9 in 10 have it and don’t even know it. CKD occurs in stages of progressing severity until the body eventually requires some form of external dialysis (i.e., blood filtering) to function.
There is no cure for chronic kidney disease, but it can be treated to prevent the condition from worsening with early detection. Treating and managing chronic kidney disease does require you to follow a special diet, with specific requirements on your daily intake of protein, potassium, phosphorus and sodium.
Supporting kidney health with home-delivered meals
Medically tailored home-delivered meals can make it easier to adhere to dietary guidelines for CKD. They have been clinically proven to support improvements to various aspects of CKD and its symptoms.
For example, Mom’s Meals® worked in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who wanted to know what effect low-sodium, home-delivered meals would have on patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) for kidney failure. Three meals a day for four weeks were provided to participants. Researchers hoped to reduce patients’ interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) and “prime” changes in long-term nutrition behavior.
The 2020 pilot program results showed:
- A significant reduction in interdialytic weight gain among volunteers when compared to the usual dietary habits of HD patients
- A reduction in dietary sodium, thirst, dry mouth (xerostomia) scores, and volume overload, blood pressure and serum phosphorus
“We are very excited about the positive results from this pilot study but realize more work is needed,” shared Dr. Kenneth Wilund, one of the study’s authors. “Our next step is to conduct a larger, longer randomized clinical trial that examines whether a short-term meal delivery protocol promotes sustained long-term changes in dietary behavior.”
Mom’s Meals can help
Mom’s Meals offers delicious renal-friendly meal options conveniently delivered direct to homes. Crafted by professional chefs and designed by registered dietitians, each ready-to-heat-and-eat meal is tailored to meet the nutritional needs of individuals with stage 3 or 4 CKD, or stage 5 end-stage renal disease. We help make it easier to incorporate healthy choices into your daily routine to help prevent and manage chronic conditions such as CKD.
Resources for you
Nutrition’s Impact on Kidney Health
If you or a loved one is living with CKD, use Mom’s Meals educational resources including a tip sheet, brochure and articles to discover more about this disease. Take a deeper dive with our white paper, Nutrition’s Impact on Kidney Health, to find out how maintaining a nutritious diet has been shown to help prevent and slow the progression of kidney disease, as well as other chronic conditions that can affect your renal health.
