DASH Diet Linked to Lower Chronic Kidney Disease Risk

New research suggests that individuals maintaining the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet put themselves at much lower risk of developing chronic kidney disease.

Noting that "evidence is lacking for effective dietary patterns for kidney disease prevention," a team of investigators from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, examined records from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, which followed the cases of a group of 15,792 middle-aged patients from Maryland, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Mississippi for more than 20 years. At 2 early visits, participants filled out a 6-item food frequency questionnaire, which asked how often, on average, the participants consumed each food item in what portion size over the previous year.
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Those taking part in the Johns Hopkins study were not instructed what to eat. Their adherence to a DASH-style diet was later categorized into a score based on factors such as low intake of red and processed meat, sweetened beverages, and sodium, for instance.

Participants were then put into categories based on their consumption of these food items. Over time, the investigators assessed whether participants developed kidney disease by determining kidney function via blood tests of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), learning about kidney disease-related hospitalizations or deaths, or becoming aware of end-stage kidney disease that results in dialysis or transplant.

Ultimately, 3,720 participants developed kidney disease during a median follow-up of 23 years. Participants with a DASH diet score in the lowest tertile were 16% more likely to develop kidney disease than those with the highest score tertile, after adjusting for sociodemographics, smoking status, physical activity level, total caloric intake, baseline eGFR, overweight/obese status, diabetes status, hypertension status, systolic blood pressure level, and antihypertensive medication use.

Of the individual components of the DASH diet score, high intake of red and processed meat was adversely associated with kidney disease, and high intake of nuts, legumes, and low-fat dairy products was associated with reduced risk for kidney disease.

"Consuming a DASH-style diet was associated with lower risk for kidney disease independent of demographic characteristics, established kidney risk factors, and baseline kidney function," the authors wrote, concluding that "Healthful dietary patterns such as the DASH diet may be beneficial for kidney disease prevention."

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Rebholz CM, Crews DC, Grams ME, et al. DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet and risk of subsequent kidney disease [published online August 9, 2016]. Am J Kidney Dis. doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2016.05.019.