Diet in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

The most important function of the kidney is to excrete end products of nitrogen breakdown and maintain volume and composition of body fluids. Loss of these functions with chronic kidney disease (CKD) leads to several complications like hypertension and volume overload, azotemia, acidosis, hyperkalemia and hyperphosphatemia. At advanced stages of CKD, malnutrition becomes an important complication. All these complications can be significantly minimised by dietary modification. Hence, dietary modification is extremely important in management of patients with CKD. Because of different dietary habits and different complications of CKD in different patients, diet must be individualized. There is nothing like a CKD diet. In this article, we provide principles and practice of dietary modification.