Patient/caregiver was educated on measures to plan for dialysis diet recommendation as follows:
- Dialysis diet is typically recommended for individuals in renal failure and compliance with dialysis diet can help patients in renal failure maintain/improve their health between the dialysis treatments.
- Dietary limitations recommended for these individuals help to reduce the workload on the poorly performing kidneys and prevent further deterioration of their function.
- These dietary limitations can also help with preventing accumulation of metabolic wastes, such as, urea and creatinine. It can also reduce fluid back-up, thus helping with relief of edema.
- Watch on phosphorus intake: Kidneys help in the synthesis of vitamin D in the body, which helps in the normal absorption of calcium from the diet. Calcium absorbed into the blood is deposited in the bones, which can help with strengthening the bones. Poorly functioning kidneys cannot synthesize the vitamin D needed for calcium absorption and so, can lead to poor calcium deposition in the bones, thus weakening the bones. Normally, phosphorus in the diet competes with calcium for absorption and in patients with poor calcium absorption, phosphorus is increasingly absorbed and deposited into the bones in place of calcium. This can weaken the bones further resulting in osteoporosis and easy fractures. Phosphorus intake is limited in renal failure patients, to prevent this overwhelming absorption and deposition into the bones in place of calcium and development of osteoporosis & fractures.
