Want to Protect Your Kidneys? Scientists Say This Diet Ma...

What’s Happening

Listen up: We tapped the experts to weigh in on the latest findings.

A new study highlights the importance of your diet in preventing kidney disease. A specific type of diet was found to be associated with a lower risk of chronic kidney disease. (wild, right?)

Below, the experts explain the findings.

The Details

Eating the right foods may help you age healthfully , slow brain aging , impact gut health , and more. Now, new research names a specific diet that may lower the risk of kidney disease.

Specifically, the study illuminates what works to prevent chronic kidney disease (CKD), an impairment in kidney function that “affects, on average, about one in seven people with upward of 90% of people being unaware they have the disease,” explains Shivam Joshi, M. , fellow and medical advisory board member of the National Kidney Foundation and adjunct assistant professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Why This Matters

Meet the the experts: Shivam Joshi, M. , senior director of public education at the American Kidney Fund. The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal , looked at health information of nearly 180,000 people without chronic kidney disease and evaluated their self-reported diets—specifically, their adherence to (or lack thereof) the plant-forward EAT-Lancet planetary health diet, an eating pattern that focuses on whole foods like whole grains, fiber-rich vegetables and fruits, nuts, and legumes with limited consumption of animal proteins like fish, dairy, and meat.

Health experts are weighing in on what this means for people.

Key Takeaways

• Using patient bloodwork, researchers identified specific proteins and metabolites that indicated the state of their kidneys.
• After 12 years, researchers followed up with participants, and 4,819 had developed CKD.
• In conclusion, higher EAT–Lancet diet adherence was associated with a lower risk of CKD.

The Bottom Line

After 12 years, researchers followed up with participants, and 4,819 had developed CKD. In conclusion, higher EAT–Lancet diet adherence was associated with a lower risk of CKD.

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