What Diet Is Good for PKD

2014-10-23 10:00

Many PKD patients come to our website and consult what diet they should follow. A proper diet is necessary for people with polycystic kidney, but one thing they need to understand is a well-planed diet is good for kidney and it helps to avoid adding extra burden on kidney, but unfortunately, PKD can not be brought under control of cured by making diet changes.

Diet plan for PKD in early stage

In initial stage of PKD, only small cysts are formed in kidney. Small kidney cysts are not serious enough to damage kidney and impair kidney function, so at that time, there is no need for diet changes, but for the health of body, they can have a light diet.

Diet suggestions for PKD patients with impaired kidney function

In cases of PKD, kidney cysts enlarge over time and when they enlarged to a certain size, they will oppress surrounding kidney tissues and thus impair kidney function. Diet changes are needed to avoid adding extra burden on kidney when kidneys fail to work as well as they did before. The followings are the diet suggestions for PKD patients with impaired kidney function:

1. Low-sodium diet

2. High quality protein is suggested for PKD patients, but they need to limit protein intake according to their kidney condition. (Ask online doctor for free individual advice on proper protein intake)

3. Low-potassium intake is necessary if lab tests show high potassium level in blood. If potassium level in blood is in normal range, ingesting much more potassium will help to control blood pressure.

4. High-calcium diet

5. High-fiber diet

Diet good for PKD patients who are on dialysis

For PKD patients who are on kidney dialysis, about 1.2 g of protein intake per kilogram of body weight is needed a day. At that time, low-salt diet is also needed for the health of kidney and body. Besides that, they also need to adjust fluid intake according to their dry weight and kidney condition, so as to avoid unnecessary problems that appear easily during dialysis due to improper fluid intake.

A kidney-friendly diet helps to avoid unnecessary kidney burden, but PKD can not be cured or well controlled by diet changes. For PKD patients, if they do not take medical treatment to shrink kidney cysts, kidney failure is caused sooner or later.

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