What is the dietary therapy for acute renal failure?

Acute renal failure is a general term for a syndrome of renal parenchymal damage. The main site of disease occurrence is renal tubular necrosis, which causes disorders in the body's important water, electrolytes and other metabolisms. If not properly treated, uremia is likely to occur. Patients with acute renal failure not only feel discomfort all over their body but also have pain in their waist. At the same time, there are strict requirements on the amount of food they can eat each time.

Provide high-quality protein:

Patients in the oliguria stage of acute renal failure have poor appetite and find it difficult to meet high calorie requirements.

Limit water intake:

During the oliguria phase, the intake of all kinds of water should be strictly limited to prevent excessive body fluid from causing acute pulmonary edema or dilutional hyponatremia.

The water content of food needs to be calculated, such as 1 gram of protein produces 0.43 ml of water, 1 gram of fat produces 1.07 ml of water, and 1 gram of carbohydrates produces 0.55 ml of water. Keep track of your water intake and urine output, and determine your daily intake based on your body fluid excretion. In general, drink water as directed by your doctor.

Provide a low-salt and low-sodium diet:

During the oliguria stage, edema is often present, and a low-salt, salt-free, or low-sodium diet should be adopted depending on the blood sodium level.

When blood potassium is high, you should reduce the potassium content in your diet and avoid foods containing potassium to prevent an increase in exogenous potassium and worsening of hyperkalemia. Foods high in potassium can be frozen, soaked in water, or drained to reduce the potassium content.

If the condition can be improved in the short term, a low-protein diet should be given. If the gastrointestinal reaction is severe, intravenous fluid replacement can be given in the short term, mainly glucose.

During polyuria

The urine volume increases, the blood urea nitrogen decreases, and the appetite gradually improves. Appropriate increase in nutrition can accelerate the body's repair. During the polyuria period, you should pay attention to replenishing water and electrolytes. Drink about 1000 ml of water every day. When replenishing intravenously, add the urine volume of the previous day to the calculation. Pay attention to giving vitamin preparations.

During the recovery period

Serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen gradually decrease, while the protein in the diet can be gradually increased, and amino acid injection can be given if necessary. Amino acid injection contains isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, valine, arginine, histidine, etc. It is worth noting that branched-chain amino acids should account for 40% to 50% of the essential amino acids. Only in this way can it be beneficial to the synthesis of muscle protein.