This Diet Could Help Protect Transplant Recipients' Kidney Health

It is unfortunate that kidney transplant patients suffer from loss of renal function within a decade. More than one-third of all kidney recipients go through the risk of graft failure in spite of improving the survival rates of the transplanted organs in the initial years after their transplantation surgeries.

Recent research published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology reported that adhering to the Mediterranean diet, alongside reducing the intake of dairy products and meat, could prevent the loss of kidney function.

The team of Dutch researchers from the University of Groningen, Netherlands sought to analyze the data from questionnaires submitted to 632 adult kidney transplant patients whose donor kidney had been functioning for more than a year. The questions were about their diet habits and the participants’ responses were evaluated and scored.

They, then, followed the study participants for another 62 months. In that duration, it was noted that 119 transplant patients suffered impaired kidney function and 76 of them experienced kidney failure.

The findings of the study clearly indicated that the closer a patient adhered to the Mediterranean diet, the lower was their risk of suffering from kidney failure or a decline in kidney functioning.

“Increasing scientific evidence has demonstrated health benefits of the Mediterranean diet on cardiovascular and kidney health,” Inquirer.net quoted the study’s lead author Dr. Gomes-Neto. “In this study, we show that kidney transplant recipients with higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet are less likely to experience function loss of their kidney transplant.”

The research team opined that further clinical trials of the Mediterranean diet among kidney transplant recipients under the guidance of nutritional experts are needed to substantiate these findings further.

The foundation of the Mediterranean diet includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, whole grains, and beans. To adhere to this diet, one should plan their meals around such plant-based foods. Moderate amounts of poultry, eggs, seafood, and dairy products are also included in the diet. Red meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, refined grains, and other highly processed foods are restricted.

Apart from helping kidney transplant patients, the Mediterranean diet has numerous health benefits including reduced risk of Alzheimer’s, protection against type 2 diabetes, reduced risk of Parkinson's disease and in preventing heart diseases and strokes.