Kidney Function Can Improve With Plant-Based Diet, Research Suggests

Researchers have found that vegan and pesco-vegetarian diets are associated with better kidney health compared to diets that include meat and dairy products.

Diets that are strictly plant-based (vegan) as well as those that include fish (pesco-vegetarian) may offer protection against chronic kidney disease by helping the kidneys filter blood and remove waste more efficiently, the study found.

Researchers examined associations between dietary patterns, kidney function, and diet-related metabolites (small compounds the body makes when it processes food), using estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as a measure of how well a kidney filters blood.

“We now have evidence that a vegetarian diet helps preserve kidney function,” said Fayth Butler, associate professor at Loma Linda University School of Public Health and lead author of the study.

The study, “Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Diet-Related Metabolites Are Associated With Kidney Function in the Adventist Health Study-2 Cohort,” was published in the Journal of Renal Nutrition.

Researchers said the findings are particularly relevant for those more prone to chronic kidney disease, such as people advanced in age.

“Chronic kidney disease affects more than 800 million people globally, posing significant health and economic burdens, including more than US$85 billion in Medicare expenditures in the U.S. in 2020,” the study stated. “Diet significantly impacts kidney health, and plant-based dietary patterns may offer a cost-effective strategy for chronic kidney disease prevention.”

Researchers examined participant data across four diets—vegans, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, pesco-vegetarians, and nonvegetarians.

The study’s participants filled out a questionnaire on their food intake at the beginning of the study regarding the consumption of more than 200 food items. Participants also provided blood samples at the time they completed the questionnaire. These blood samples were profiled for diet-related metabolites, as well as creatinine, which was used to determine eGFR.

Participant data for this study were examined from approximately 900 participants. These participants were a subset of the Adventist Health Study-2, a cohort of nearly 96,000 people who identify as Seventh-day Adventist and lived in the United States and Canada during the study’s baseline recruitment between 2002 and 2007. That original cohort has been the subject of more than 200 published studies on diet, health, disease, and mortality.

The original version of this story was posted on the Loma Linda University news site.