Right Diet And Melatonin Helps Improve Health Of Kidney Disease Patients
A recent study, “Adding Dietary Fruits and Vegetables Reduces Kidney Injury in Subjects with Moderately Reduced GFR,” authored by Nimirit Goraya, MD of Texas A and M College of Medicine and Scott and White Healthcare has found that a diet heavy on fruits and vegetables, over a 30-day period, lessened urine excretion of albumin, transforming growth factors, and N-acetyl-ß-D-glucosaminidase in 40 patients suffering kidney disease.
The typical Western diet creates an acidic atmosphere in the body which produces many negative symptoms in kidney disease patients. The 30-day diet focused on lots of fruits and vegetables was shown to balance out this acidity in patients with some reduced kidney function.
“These preliminary studies support the need for larger long-term studies to determine if this simple and relatively inexpensive intervention helps reduce the risk of subsequent worsening of kidney function in patients with hypertension-associated kidney disease,” said Dr. Goraya.
The study was co-authored by Jan Simoni, PhD of Texas Tech University Health Sciences, Kristine Broglio of Texas A and M University, and Donald E. Weston, MD of Texas A and M College of Medicine and Scott and White Healthcare.
The study abstract was presented as a poster at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on Saturday, November 20. 2010.
Another recent study on kidney disease and sleep disorders was conducted by Marije Russcher, PharmD, and Birgit Koch, PharmD, PhD, Meander Medical Center, in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. Kidney patients commonly suffer some form of sleep disorder because dialysis treatment often times throws off their biological clocks. Researchers have previously noted that melatonin supplementation has helped even out sleep patterns in kidney disease patients in the short term. The researchers now want to find out if there were long term benefits as well. The results show that after 12 months of 70 patients receiving either melatonin or a placebo, none of the melatonin patients had better sleep than the placebo group.
“We confirmed the short term beneficial effects of melatonin on sleep; however, we found no indication that these beneficial effects persist in long-term usage of melatonin,” said Ms. Russcher. “Further research should focus on optimizing melatonin dosage and time of dosing, specifically in kidney patients.”
The study abstract was also presented on November 20, 2010 at the Colorado Convention Center.
