Medical Nutrition Therapy for Kidney Disease

1) How will you benefit from seeing a dietitian?
You will benefit from seeing a dietitian when you have reduced or worsening kidney function, and want to learn how to modify your diet to manage your kidney condition especially if you have one or more of the following complications:

• Uncontrolled blood pressure
• Protein leaking in your urine (proteinuria)
• Water retention
• High blood potassium and/or phosphorus level

2) The objective of the medical nutrition therapy
The objective is to help you understand your condition and equip you with the relevant nutrition information to modify your diet to equip you with the knowledge to slow down disease progression and reduce the risks of above mentioned complications through diet and lifestyle interventions.

3) What is covered in the session?
During the consultation, the dietitian will perform a detailed nutritional assessment and collect the following information:

• Weight history
• Blood results related to kidney function such as creatinine, potassium and phosphorus level
• Dietary habits including protein, salt, fluid, potassium and phosphorus intake, meal pattern and lifestyle
• Phosphate binders if any
• Type of dialysis if any
• Other health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, high blood cholesterol etc.

The dietitian will provide you with advice on:

• Basic knowledge of chronic kidney disease and its related health consequences
• How to identify sources of nutrients in the diet that affect your kidney condition
• Optimising your diet by controlling protein, salt, fluid, potassium and phosphorus intake
• Individualised dietary recommendations
• Meal preparation and eating out tips

Blood results, body weight, signs and symptoms of disease complications and dietary changes will be reviewed regularly and further nutrition recommendations and relevant information will be provided accordingly.

If you are on dialysis, your dietitian will review your weight trend including dry and wet weight, interdialytic weight change as well as type, frequency and duration of dialysis to provide individualised nutrition advice.