How Does Dietary Protein Affect Serum Creatinine

High serum creatinine is a common problem for patients with kidney function impairment. And they are often recommended to follow a low protein diet, because protein may increase creatinine level further. But do you know how does dietary protein affect serum creatinine? If you want to know the answer, please go on reading.

Dietary protein and serum creatinine

The reason why kidney patients should limit the dietary protein is that some protein especially meat are packed with rich creatine, which can be broken into creatinine when it comes into your body so as to increase creatinine level.

Other advantages of following a low protein diet

To restrict the intake of protein has other advantages. Creatinine is just one of the waste product of protein metabolism. There are also other water products, such as urea. Therefore, low protein intake helps control the blood urea level. What is more, low protein diet produces less waste, which reduces the workload of kidneys so as to help kidney function.

What protein is good for your health?

There are various kinds of protein in food. Relatively speaking, animal protein is better than plant protein, because animal protein contains more essential amino acids, which can be absorbed by your body and this kind of protein produce less waste. Here we recommend to eat such high quality protein as egg white and lean meat.

How much protein you can consume?

It depends on your kidney function. In kidney disease stage 3, 0.6 g/kg protein is suggested. In stage 4, 0.4 g/kg protein can satisfy the need of body. In the end stage before dialysis, 0.2 g/kg protein is OK. And if you are on dialysis, protein intake should be increased to 1.2 g/kg per day.

Dietary protein is closely related to our health. Too much can speed up kidney disease progression, while too little can make us malnutrition. For more corresponding information, please contact online doctor or leave a message below.