Today, most people think that the best way to reduce the risk for chronic kidney disease is to make sure your blood pressure and blood sugar are controlled. While there is no doubt that is true, the importance of the diet should not be ignored. Much of our work has suggested that sugar and high glycemic carbohydrates are a major source of fructose. High glycemic carbohydrates such as bread, rice, potato chips and cereal are starchy and tend to raise glucose levels in the blood, but some of this is converted to fructose within the body. Our work suggests that the fructose may not only contribute to obesity and diabetes, but also kidney disease. In a paper led by Dr Shaminie Athinarayanan from Virta Health, we had the opportunity to investigate the effects of a keto diet on people suffering from obesity or diabetes. Today we published the results and the paper is freely available online at:
http://doi.org/10.1111/dom.71086
In essence, a low carb, keto diet can reduce the risk for chronic kidney disease by approximately 50 percent. This is a very powerful result. While the data is not a controlled trial, real life data such as this is extraordinary.
You can also view the PDF version of the article here.
