Simple Diet Change Could Transform Kidney Disease Treatment: 10-Year Study Finds Fewer Hospital Visits

Trial compared three approaches

The study enrolled 108 adults with stage 3 chronic kidney disease and metabolic acidosis, a condition involving excess acid in the body. Researchers randomly assigned 36 participants to each of three groups: fruits and vegetables, oral sodium bicarbonate, or usual care.

The dietary intervention used base-producing produce to help counter acidity. Both the diet and sodium bicarbonate aimed to cut dietary acid by half, giving researchers two approaches with the same acid-reduction goal to compare.

Fewer visits with produce

The findings concern adults with both stage 3 chronic kidney disease and metabolic acidosis. They do not establish that the dietary approach applies to people with other conditions.

Costs and potential value

Corresponding author Nimrit Goraya, MD, of Baylor Scott and White Health, said the dietary treatment was associated with better long-term outcomes and lower health care use than the comparison treatments, without raising overall health-system or societal costs. Goraya said the results support assessing dietary interventions at both individual and population levels. The researchers also pointed to possible quality-of-life and health-system benefits from investing in fruits and vegetables as treatment, while noting that favorable outcomes were achieved without increased overall costs.