Healthy eating patterns protect against CKD

Individuals who adhere to the alternative Mediterranean index (aMED), dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH), and healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI) patterns appear to have a reduced risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD), reports a UK study.

On the other hand, higher adherence to the unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI) and dietary inflammatory index (DII) patterns may result in an increased CKD risk.

A total of 2,934 CKD cases occurred over a median follow-up of 9.27 years. The highest tertile of adherence to aMED (hazard ratio [HR], 0.84, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.76–0.93), DASH (HR, 0.77, 95 percent CI, 0.70–0.85), and hPDI (HR, 0.79, 95 percent CI, 0.72–0.87) significantly correlated with a reduced risk of CKD.

On the other hand, greater adherence to uPDI (HR, 1.27, 95 percent CI, 1.16–1.40) and DII (HR, 1.20, 95 percent CI, 1.18–1.33) contributed to a higher CKD risk. Adherence to the alternative healthy eating index (AHEI) 2010 pattern, however, did not reach significance (HR, 0.94, 95 percent CI, 0.85–1.03). These results remained robust in sensitivity analyses.

This prospective cohort study included 106,870 participants from the UK Biobank, who were followed from 2009 to 2012 through 2021. Two or more 24-h dietary assessments were used to gather data on food consumption.

The investigators evaluated dietary patterns using previously established indices: aMED, AHEI 2010, DASH, hPDI, uPDI, and DII. They identified CKD cases from clinical records, death registries, and self-reports. Cox regression models, adjusted for confounders, were used in the analyses.