How to Supplement Protein for Patients with Nephrotic Syndrome

Many patients with Nephrotic Syndrome are afraid to take protein and only eat some vegetables. They thought it would reduce the protein leakage, but it lead to malnutrition and aggravated the disease condition.

Actually, the above views are both one-sided. Eating too much protein will increase the burden of the kidneys, while insufficient protein intake cannot meet the need of normal physiological requirements.

Protein is the source of life. Lack of protein in the body will not only cause edema, but also many diseases and is dangerous to life. Patients with Nephrotic Syndrome lost large amount of protein in urine and will sure cause lack of protein in the body. Without supplement, the protein in the body will be less. Some patients are told not to eat meat, eggs and fish. It is not scientific. On the contrary, patients with Nephrotic Syndrome should eat protein properly, especially food rich in high quality protein such as milk, eggs, lean meat, chicken and fish.

How much protein should patients eat every day? There are two conditions. If the kidney function is normal, patients with Nephrotic Syndrome can eat 1g/kg.d plus the amount of protein lost in urine. For patients with azotemia (the BUN and serum creatinine is higher than normal in test), the protein intake should be limited to about 0.6g/kg.d and take Ketosteril if necessary. High quality protein should be chosen. One egg contains 7g protein, a bowl of milk (about 200ml) contains 6g protein and 50g red meat contains 12g protein. The protein in chicken is higher than red meat and less than that in fish. In this way, we can calculate the amount of protein should be taken for patients with Nephrotic Syndrome.

If the protein intake is too much, the protein leakage will be more serious and the kidneys will be in high filtration state. The kidneys will be overworked and the kidney function will decline fast. Generally, if the GFR is lower than 50ml/min, patients have to limit protein intake.

Any help, please email to kidneycn201011@hotmail.com .

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