A team of US-based scientists has conducted a study to research whether providing fruit and veggies together with cooking instructions can improve kidney health amongst African-American adults with early-stage chronic kidney disease.
The study is published within the journal Kidney Medicine.
Study: The Fruit and Veggies for Kidney Health Study: A Prospective Randomized Trial. Image Credit: Danijela Maksimovic / Shutterstock
Background
Chronic kidney disease is related to many health complications, including albuminuria, heart problems, and high disability-adjusted life years. At a complicated stage, the condition is related to high mortality rates.
In america, the prevalence of chronic kidney disease and related disability-adjusted life years is increasing steadily over time, with a concomitant rise in individual-level and national-level economic burden. Specifically, disproportionately high rates of chronic kidney disease and heart problems have been observed amongst African Americans, which may be on account of their low socioeconomic status.
A urine albumin to creatinine ratio of greater than 10 mg/g (albuminuria) is taken into account a big risk factor for chronic kidney disease. Existing evidence indicates that regular consumption of fruit and veggies reduces the danger of kidney damage amongst individuals with albuminuria.
In the present study, scientists have investigated whether providing fruit and veggies together with cooking instructions to African American patients with albuminuria can reduce their risk of developing severe chronic kidney disease and heart problems.
Study design
The study “ The Fruit and Veggies for Kidney Health Study: A Prospective Randomized Trial” was conducted on 142 adult African American patients with early-stage chronic kidney disease and a urine albumin to creatinine ratio of greater than 10 mg/g.
The participants were randomly categorized into two groups. In a single group, 72 participants received only 2 cups/day of fruit and veggies for six months. In the opposite group, 70 participants received the identical amount of fruit and veggies together with cooking instructions for six months.
Urine samples collected from the participants were analyzed for 2 kidney injury markers, including albumin to creatinine ratio and angiotensinogen to creatinine ratio. Various anthropometric and biometric measurements were also obtained from the participants.
Necessary observations
The assessment of dietary intake at baseline, 6 weeks, and 6 months time points revealed no significant differences between the groups, apart from fruit and vegetable intake, which increased in each groups after 6 weeks of intervention.
The assessment of kidney function revealed that participants who received fruit and veggies together with cooking instructions had 31% lower albumin to creatinine ratio at 6 months in comparison with those that received only fruit and veggies. Nevertheless, no significant difference in angiotensinogen to creatinine ratio was observed between the groups.
In each groups, a big association of lower albumin to creatinine ratio was observed with lower glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and lower diastolic blood pressure. For every unit increase in HbA1c and diastolic blood pressure, the albumin to creatinine ratio increased by 17% and a pair of%, respectively, in each groups.
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, serum lipoproteins, and HbA1c were measured on this study as secondary outcomes. Nevertheless, no significant changes in any of those parameters were observed between the groups.
A sub-group evaluation was also conducted after combining all participants right into a single group to research the effect of increased fruit and vegetable consumption on secondary outcomes.
The findings revealed a big net increase in fruit and vegetable consumption at 6 weeks within the combined group. Participants with elevated baseline values of secondary parameters exhibited a big reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HbA1c, and low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) and a big increase in high-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol) after consuming fruit and veggies for six months.
Study significance
The study finds that early-stage chronic kidney disease patients can improve albuminuria more if supplied with cooking instruction along with fruit and veggies.
In other words, the study highlights the importance of adjuvant cooking instructions to attain the optimal kidney and cardiovascular health advantages of fruit and veggies. The study findings might be helpful to scale back the danger of cardiovascular and kidney disease in high-risk populations, including community-dwelling African Americans.