Can We Drink Protein Shakes with Polycystic Kidney Disease

2014-11-09 06:04

Polycystic Kidney Disease is the illness that needs us to make diet changes to avoid adding too much burden on kidney. For this reason, we need to be careful about foods we take in our daily diet. Protein shakes are shakes infused with protein, often in soy, egg or whey form. It is a nutrient-rich drink and deeply loved by many people. Well, for one with Polycystic Kidney Disease, is protein shakes ok?

Can we drink protein shakes with PKD?

Protein is essential in maintaining muscle strength and high energy levels. It is the basic of life, but for Polycystic Kidney Disease patients, they need to regulate their protein intake due to impaired kidney function. Therefore, they should be careful about the intake of protein shakes.

Protein intake for Polycystic Kidney Disease

Protein limitation is needed for Polycystic Kidney Disease patients. On the one hand, the metabolite of protein is urea nitrogen which need to be removed by kidney. High protein intake will increase the production of urea nitrogen, which can increase kidney burden. On the another hand, high protein intake will lead to more serious protein leakage, which can cause aggravation of proteinuria. For this reason, PKD patients need to reduce their protein intake according to their specific condition. (Consult our online doctor about how much protein is needed by you). Additional, for PKD patients who are on dialysis, they need to increase their protein intake to 1.2g per kilogram of body weight per day.

High quality protein for PKD

High quality protein refers to protein that can be fully used by our body. It can provide our body with necessary nutrient and meanwhile produce less wastes. Therefore, foods with high quality protein like lean meat, fish, milk and egg white are usually recommended for PKD patients.

Protein shakes is nourishing, but for individual with Polycystic Kidney Disease, he needs to be careful about the intake of protein shakes due to damaged kidney. Because, when kidney function is impaired, electrolyte disturbance will be caused, so PKD patients also need to pay attention to their potassium intake, sodium intake and phosphorus intake. Here we offer online service, so you can ask our online doctor for individual diet advice.

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