The ketogenic diet helps improve kidney function in people with polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disease that causes the appearance of cysts in the kidneys.
- Polycystic kidney disease is a genetic disease. It can destroy the kidneys.
- Researchers have found that the ketogenic diet reduces the effects of the disease on the kidneys.
- It consists of limiting carbohydrate intake.
Can diet affect polycystic kidney disease? This is the aim of a research team from the University of Santa Barbara, in the United States. According to their work, published in Cell Reports Medicine, adopting a ketogenic diet could reduce the effects of polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disease that can destroy the kidneys. This diet is mainly based on limiting the consumption of carbohydrates.
How to observe the effects of the ketogenic diet on polycystic kidney disease?
“If you suffer from polycystic kidney disease, (…) no matter what you do, you progress towards kidney failure and diet makes no difference, this is what unfortunately most patients still hear today., specifies Thomas Weimbs, biologist at UC Santa Barbara and co-author of this study, in the preamble. With his team, he sought to demonstrate that this belief was false.
Together with researchers from different German research institutes, they recruited 70 people with the disease. They were divided into three groups: a control group, another which fasted – allowing only to drink water – for three days every month and a third group which followed a low-carb, high-carb ketogenic diet. in fat. The patients were followed by blood tests and MRI scans.
Polycystic kidney disease: reducing carbohydrate intake improves kidney health
At the end of After three months, researchers found that the kidneys of patients on the ketogenic diet had stopped growing and appeared to be shrinking somewhat, compared to patients in the other groups. They also observed “a measurable improvement in kidney function in patients on a ketogenic diet”. It was measured using the level of a protein called cystatin C: blood concentrations higher than normal indicate a faulty filtration system, a symptom which worsened in the control group.
“To everyone’s surprise, kidney function improved on the ketogenic dietcomments Thomas Wiembs. “It wasn’t really expected, as polycystic kidney disease was considered a disease that would only get worse with time.” The ketogenic diet creates a state of ketosis in the body: it corresponds to the use of fats to provide energy. “We now have the first evidence in humans that cysts really don’t like being in ketosis and don’t seem to grow.”
Ketogenic diet: an easy diet to implement?
Study participants reported that following the ketogenic diet was “highly achievable”, which supports the researchers’ feelings about the potential of this dietary change. “Doctors often assume that their patients can’t stick to a diet anyway, so they don’t even tryestimates the American biologist. Obviously that’s not true. People with polycystic kidney disease are highly motivated to do something about their disease“, adds Thomas Wiembs.
On the other hand, the expert calls on patients to consult their doctor or nutritionist if they decide to change their diet. The research team plans to continue its work. Further clinical trials, with larger groups of patients, are planned for 2024.