Irene Capizzi

Vegan–vegetarian diets in pregnancy: danger or panacea? A systematic narrative review

Although vegan–vegetarian diets are increasingly popular, no recent systematic reviews on vegan–vegetarian diets in pregnancy exist.

Low protein diets in patients with chronic kidney disease: a bridge between mainstream and complementary-alternative medicines?

Dietary therapy represents an important tool in the management of chronic kidney disease (CKD), mainly through a balanced reduction of protein intake aimed at giving the remnant nephrons in damaged kidneys a “functional rest”. While dialysis, transplantation, and pharmacological therapies are usually seen as “high tech” medicine, non pharmacological interventions, including diets, are frequently considered lifestyle-complementary treatments. Diet is one of the oldest CKD treatments, and it is usually considered a part of “mainstream” management. In this narrative review we discuss how the lessons of complementary alternative medicines (CAMs) can be useful for the implementation and study of low-protein diets in CKD. While high tech medicine is mainly prescriptive, prescribing a “good” life-style change is usually not enough and comprehensive counselling is required; the empathic educational approach, on which CAMs are mainly, though not exclusively based, may support a successful personalized nutritional intervention.There is no gold-standard, low-protein diet for all CKD patients: from among a relatively vast choice, the best compliance is probably obtained by personalization. This approach interferes with the traditional RCT-based analyses which are grounded upon an assumption of equal preference of treatments (ideally blinded). Whole system approaches and narrative medicine, that are widely used in the study of CAMs, may offer ways to integrate EBM and personalised medicine in the search for innovative solutions respecting individualization, but gaining sound data, such as with partially-randomised patient preference trials.

Tailoring dialysis and resuming low-protein diets may favor chronic dialysis discontinuation: report on three cases.

Renal function recovery (RFR), defined as the discontinuation of dialysis after 3 months of replacement therapy, is reported in about 1% of chronic dialysis patients. The role of personalized, intensive dialysis schedules and of resuming low‐protein diets has not been studied to date. This report describes three patients with RFR who were recently treated at a new dialysis unit set up to offer intensive hemodialysis. All three patients were females, aged 73, 75, and 78 years. Kidney disease included vascular‐cholesterol emboli, diabetic nephropathy and vascular and dysmetabolic disease. At time of RFR, the patients had been dialysis‐dependent from 3 months to 1 year. Dialysis was started with different schedules and was progressively discontinued with a “decremental” policy, progressively decreasing number and duration of the sessions. A moderately restricted low‐protein diet (proteins 0.6 g/kg/day) was started immediately after dialysis discontinuation. The most recent update showed that two patients are well off dialysis for 5 and 6 months; the diabetic patient died (sudden death) 3 months after dialysis discontinuation. Within the limits of small numbers, our case series may suggest a role for personalized dialysis treatments and for including low‐protein diets in the therapy, in enhancing long‐term RFR in elderly dialysis patients.

Low-Protein Diets in Diabetic Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Patients: Are They Feasible and Worth the Effort?

Low-protein diets (LPDs) are often considered as contraindicated in diabetic patients, and are seldom studied. The aim of this observational study was to provide new data on this issue. It involved 149 diabetic and 300 non-diabetic patients who followed a LPD, with a personalized approach aimed at moderate protein restriction (0.6 g/day). Survival analysis was performed according to Kaplan–Meier, and multivariate analysis with Cox model. Diabetic versus non-diabetic patients were of similar age (median 70 years) and creatinine levels at the start of the diet (2.78 mg/dL vs. 2.80 mg/dL). There was higher prevalence of nephrotic proteinuria in diabetic patients (27.52% vs. 13.67%, p = 0.002) as well as comorbidity (median Charlson index 8 vs. 6 p = 0.002). Patient survival was lower in diabetic patients, but differences levelled off considering only cases with Charlson index > 7, the only relevant covariate in Cox analysis. Dialysis-free survival was superimposable in the setting of good compliance (Mitch formula: 0.47 g/kg/day in both groups): about 50% of the cases remained dialysis-free 2 years after the first finding of e-GFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate) < 15 mL/min, and 1 year after reaching e-GFR < 10 mL/min. In patients with type 2 diabetes, higher proteinuria was associated with mortality and initiation of dialysis. In conclusion, moderately restricted LPDs allow similar results in diabetic and non non-diabetic patients with similar comorbidity.

Patient Survival and Costs on Moderately Restricted Low-Protein Diets in Advanced CKD: Equivalent Survival at Lower Costs?

The indications for delaying the start of dialysis have revived interest in low-protein diets (LPDs). In this observational prospective study, we enrolled all patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who followed a moderately restricted LPD in 2007–2015 in a nephrology unit in Italy: 449 patients, 847 years of observation. At the start of the diet, the median glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was 20 mL/min, the median age was 70, the median Charlson Index was 7. Standardized mortality rates for the “on-diet” population were significantly lower than for patients on dialysis (United States Renal Data System (USRDS): 0.44 (0.36–0.54); Italian Dialysis Registry: 0.73 (0.59–0.88); French Dialysis Registry 0.70 (0.57–0.85)). Considering only the follow-up at low GFR (≤15 mL/min), survival remained significantly higher than in the USRDS, and was equivalent to the Italian and French registries, with an advantage in younger patients. Below the e-GFR of 15 mL/min, 50% of the patients reached a dialysis-free follow-up of ≥2 years; 25% have been dialysis-free for five years. Considering an average yearly cost of about 50,000 Euros for dialysis and 1200 Euros for the diet, and different hypotheses of “spared” dialysis years, treating 100 patients on a moderately restricted LPD would allow saving one to four million Euros. Therefore, our study suggests that in patients with advanced CKD, moderately restricted LPDs may allow prolonging dialysis-free follow-up with comparable survival to dialysis at a lower cost.

Compliance, illiteracy and low-protein diet: multiple challenges in CKD and a case of self-empowerment

BackgroundLow-protein diets (LPD) are an important means of delaying the need for dialysis and attaining a stable metabolic balance in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Many authors consider a low educational level and illiteracy to be adverse features for a good dietary compliance.Case presentationWe report the case of a 77-year old woman, illiterate, affected by advanced CKD (stage 4 according to KDIGO guidelines). She was initially ashamed of her problem and did not declare it, leading to an overzealous reduction in protein intake. However, with her daughter’s help, who translated the dietary prescription into images, she overcame the barrier represented by illiteracy and was able to correctly follow the prescriptions, attaining good kidney function stability and preserving an adequate nutritional status.ConclusionsThe case underlines the importance of a personalized approach to dietary prescriptions and suggests that it is possible to achieve a good compliance to the dietary treatment of CKD also in patients with relevant cultural barriers.

Vegetarian and Plant-Based Diets in Pregnancy

Abstract A healthy diet during pregnancy has been recognized for centuries as key for the well-being of the mother and the fetus. Over time, the definition of an ideal diet has progressively switched from a diet at a low-risk of nutritional deficiencies to a diet that reduced the risk of diseases that relates to overeating. The rediscovery of the Mediterranean diet and vegetarian diets has gained a growing interest, mainly because they may protect from the most commonly encountered chronic diseases linked to “overeating” in the developed and developing world, including the array of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity. The evidence on advantages and drawbacks of plant-based diets in pregnancy is scant, and heterogeneous also on the account of the link with higher education and health awareness in Western countries, and with poverty in the developing world. However, well-balanced plant-based diets are theoretically welcomed in both settings: they are rarely “too rich” and may protect from overnutrition in high resourced countries, and they are often more affordable in low-resourced countries. The present review contextualizes vegetarian/vegan diets in four situations: the “healthy and wealthy,” who choose them in the Western words, the “poor and obliged” in low-resourced settings, the “nutritionally disturbed,” on the account of the link between nutritional disturbances and plant-based diets in the Western world, and the “sick and controlled,” i.e., the specific experience on protein-restricted diets in patients with chronic kidney diseases. Overall, well-balanced, varied, and controlled, plant-based diets in pregnancy are nutritionally safe, and they are not associated with clinical problems in either mother nor child, in health and disease, provided they are varied and balanced enough and attention is paid to cover the nutritional requirements (in particular, vitamin B 12 , vitamin D, iron, and zinc).

Weight Loss in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease: Should We Consider Individualised, Qualitative, ad Libitum Diets? A Narrative Review and Case Study

In advanced chronic kidney disease, obesity may bring a survival advantage, but many transplant centres demand weight loss before wait-listing for kidney graft. The case here described regards a 71-year-old man, with obesity-related glomerulopathy; referral data were: weight 110 kg, Body Mass Index (BMI) 37 kg/m2, serum creatinine (sCr) 5 mg/dL, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 23 mL/min, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) 75 mg/dL, proteinuria 2.3 g/day. A moderately restricted, low-protein diet allowed reduction in BUN (45–55 mg/dL) and good metabolic and kidney function stability, with a weight increase of 6 kg. Therefore, he asked to be enrolled in a weight-loss program to be wait-listed (the two nearest transplant centres required a BMI below 30 or 35 kg/m2). Since previous low-calorie diets were not successful and he was against a surgical approach, we chose a qualitative, ad libitum coach-assisted diet, freely available in our unit. In the first phase, the diet is dissociated; he lost 16 kg in 2 months, without need for dialysis. In the second maintenance phase, in which foods are progressively combined, he lost 4 kg in 5 months, allowing wait-listing. Dialysis started one year later, and was followed by weight gain of about 5 kg. He resumed the maintenance diet, and his current body weight, 35 months after the start of the diet, is 94 kg, with a BMI of 31.7 kg/m2, without clinical or biochemical signs of malnutrition. This case suggests that our patients can benefit from the same options available to non-CKD (chronic kidney disease) individuals, provided that strict multidisciplinary surveillance is assured.