Effects of Selected Protein Diets on Biochemical profiles and Symptoms of Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

The aim of this study was to compare, using randomized controlled design, the metabolic effects of four low-protein diets, A, B, C and D obtained from different protein sources, in out-patients with moderate Chronic Renal Failure (CRF). Thirty two adult outpatients (20 males and 12 females) aged 43.9+17.3 years were randomly distributed into four groups of eight patients each. Each group was placed on isocaloric and 0.55gp/kg/day diets, containing cooked beef (A), egg white and smoked catfish (B),smoked Catfish (C) and egg white, cooked beef, smoked catfish and dehulled steamed cowpea pudding (D) for a period of six months, during which initial and final blood urea, serum creatinine levels and the symptoms experienced by the patients were compared. Blood urea decreased significantly in all the groups with B>C>A>D. The same trend was obtained for blood pressure and blood sodium levels of the patients. All the patients had improvement from their symptoms. However the B diet resulted in significant reduction of blood urea (-45.67±6.22 mg/dl) and improvement from symptoms (87.5 to 100%) in comparison with the corresponding values in patients on diets A, C, and D (range for Blood area = - 41.74±2.02 to -32.47 ± 5.90mg/dl) (P=0.041). Although serum creatinine of the patients placed on the B diet was slightly less than in the other groups the difference was not significant (P =0.93). The study shows that the combination of egg white and catfish diet followed by the catfish diet alone were more efficacious in promoting reduction in blood urea and improvement in symptoms in patients with CRF.