What dietary taboos should be noted for nephritis?

The core of dietary taboos for nephritis is never a long "fasting list". The essence is to reduce the metabolic burden on the already damaged kidneys and not to put extra work on the glomeruli that are already working with the disease.

The 32-year-old patient with IgA nephropathy who was followed up recently had his indicators stabilized for just half a month. He couldn't help but have a salty barbecue with his friends and two bottles of cold beer. The next day, the urine protein jumped from 1g to 3.2g. He couldn't put on shoes because of his swollen calves. It was a typical dietary minefield.

The first taboo that many people hear is "cannot eat soy products". This is actually an old concept that has been outdated for a long time. The current consensus among nephrology departments is that as long as the kidney function has not reached the decompensation stage, you can eat an appropriate amount of high-quality plant proteins such as soybeans and tofu. Instead, you can drink thick bone soup and chew soy sauce every day. The method of eating elbows will cause trouble to the kidneys - of course, if you have reached the uremia stage, whether it is animal or vegetable protein, you must strictly follow the doctor's instructions to control the amount. This is why many people have the cognitive bias of "total soy products are not allowed". The essence is that they do not correspond to their own disease stage.

For the vast majority of patients with nephritis, the first priority to control is salt, especially those who already have symptoms of edema and hypertension. It is best to limit their daily salt intake to less than 3g, which is about the amount of half a beer bottle cap. You must also be careful of all kinds of invisible salts. I met an aunt before who usually had a mouthful of pickles. She didn't dare to touch it, but she kept eating plums as a snack every day, and her blood pressure never came down. After checking, she found out that the salt content of plums per 100g was close to 8g. She was stunned after hearing this. Pickles, processed meat products, preserves, and even many takeout soup bases are all heavy sources of hidden salt, so avoid them if you can.

If you have elevated creatinine and renal insufficiency, you should eat high-potassium and high-phosphorus foods sparingly. Do not eat too many high-potassium fruits such as bananas, oranges, and avocados at one time. Phosphorus additives in canned drinks and processed snacks can be avoided. These substances cannot be metabolized and accumulate in the body. In mild cases, it can cause itchy skin and bone pain. In severe cases, it may induce arrhythmia, which is not a trivial matter.

Many people also ask whether they can eat spicy food if they have nephritis. In fact, there is no standard answer. If you don’t have pharyngitis or take hormones to damage the gastric mucosa, seasoning with a small amount of chili pepper is healthier than adding a lot of salt and soy sauce to enhance the flavor. You don’t need to completely fast. Of course, if you eat spicy food, it is easy to get angry and induce pharyngitis, so you should eat less. After all, upper respiratory tract infection is also a common cause of recurrence of nephritis.

Another reminder is not to supplement blindly. Many patients feel that they are leaking protein in their urine, so they take protein powder every day and take ginseng and astragalus supplements. I met an old man two years ago who secretly ate imported protein powder for half a month. His creatinine increased directly from 120 to 230. In fact, the kidneys are like a sieve with leaky holes. The fuller the liquid you pour into it, the more things will leak out. Blind supplementation will increase its burden and the gain will not be worth the candle.

Actually speaking, there are no universal dietary taboos for nephritis. All taboos are linked to your pathological type and stage of kidney function. Don’t just search for a list on the Internet and dare not eat anything. In the end, you will end up with malnutrition that is not conducive to the recovery of the disease. Regularly seeing the attending doctor or a nephrology nutritionist to adjust the diet is more reliable than general taboos.