Mg. Herselman et al., SUPPLEMENTED LOW-PROTEIN DIETS - ARE THEY SUPERIOR IN CHRONIC-RENAL-FAILURE, South African medical journal, 85(5), 1995, pp. 361-365
Twenty-two patients with chronic renal failure were randomly assigned
to a conventional low-protein diet containing 0,6 g protein/kg/day or
a very-low-protein diet containing 0,4 g protein/kg/day supplemented w
ith essential amino acids; they were followed up for 9 months, There w
ere no significant changes in body mass index, arm muscle area, percen
tage body fat, serum albumin and transferrin levels in any of the grou
ps; neither was there any difference between the groups in respect of
these parameters, Renal function, as measured by the reciprocal of ser
um creatinine over time, stabilised in both groups during intervention
, with no significant difference between the groups, There was however
no correlation between changes in renal function and changes in blood
pressure, or dietary intake of protein, phosphorus, cholesterol, poly
unsaturated and saturated fatty acids. There were also no significant
changes and no significant differences between the groups in serum lev
els of parathyroid hormone and alkaline phosphatase, urine cyclic aden
osine monophosphate, tubular reabsorption of phosphate, and the theore
tical renal threshold for phosphate. The results of this study suggest
that the supplemented very-low-protein diet was not superior to the c
onventional low-protein diet in terms of its effect on protein-energy
status, renal function and biochemical parameters of renal osteodystro
phy.