FOOD CHOICES CAN AFFECT DISEASE How Processed Food Affects the Kidneys

Future research with a prospective design is needed to confirm this positive association.

Chronic kidney disease affects between eight and 16 percent of the world’s population, and its prevalence in the United States is estimated to be about 15 percent among adults. Epidemiological studies have reported associations between the consumption of certain foods, nutrients, and dietary patterns and the risk of chronic kidney disease; however, less is known about the effect of food processing on the incidence of chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease is considered a multifactorial chronic disease that may be associated with multiple risk factors, including genetic factors, smoking, use of nephrotoxic drugs, diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Apart from these risk factors, nutrition, one of the modifiable factors, is continuously recognized as an etiological and prognostic factor of chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease is kidney damage with or without reduced glomerular filtration rate for three or more months with confirmed pathological (structural) changes, markers of kidney damage, including changes in blood and/or urine composition and glomerular filtration rate less than 60 ml/min/1 .73 m3 for more than three months with or without kidney damage.

Chronic kidney disease is characterized by a slow progression of worsening kidney function over months and years and a decrease in kidney mass (shrunken, compressed kidneys). The most common reasons for the development of chronic kidney disease are: diabetes, cardiovascular disease (hypertension) and glomerulonephritis.

L J. Petrovic