Protecting Kidneys Through a Low Protein Diet: A Stepwise Multiple-Choice System Approach

The recent paradigm on dialysis start suggests that an intention to defer policy should be preferred to beginning dialysis early ("the earliest the best" strategy). This strategy is further supported by the consideration that patient profiles are changing with the increasing proportion of older and higher comorbidity patients. In high comorbidity patients, survival is not necessarily improved by dialysis. Nutritional care, adapted to each patient's needs and preferences, could in part answer these demands. Indeed, renal function has a strict correlation with dietary patterns. Low protein diets may have two favourable effects: 1) slowing down kidney function decline and 2) delaying the need of replacement therapy (metabolic stabilizing). In dialysis, the nutritional state is the most important survival indicator, and nutritional follow-up should allow starting dialysis in a good nutritional status. The study proposed here is an implementation study with a principal aim to improve the use of low protein diets in the clinical setting, by offering a multiple choice approach and by adapting the diets to the patients' needs.