What are the Diets that should be Avoided in Nephrotic Syndrome

Nephrotic syndrome is a group of clinical manifestations and it is a relatively refractory kidney disease. Usually the course of nephrotic syndrome lasts for long time and it is very easy to relapse and this is especially turn among children because they have lower immunity compared with adults and the use of immunosuppressant will further weaken their immunity.

The pathological change is complex. There are original nephrotic syndrome and secondary nephrotic syndrome. Original one can be divided into several types and secondary one can be caused by many diseases and factors.

At present the best treatment for nephrotic syndrome is the combination of Chinese and western therapies. Western therapy mainly adopts hormones to alleviate edema, proteinuria and other symptoms and Chinese therapy mainly use herbal medicines to regulate the disorders and imbalance and they can alleviate the side effects of long term steroid therapy.

Besides proper treatments and medicines, the diet plays important role for the disease recovery. It is not simple to decide what and how much is proper for the patients. It should depend on the pathological type and severity of the illness conditions.

There are some foods that nephrotic syndrome patients should avoid or limit:

1. Salt. The daily intake of salt for healthy people is about 5-6g and nephrotic syndrome patients should have low-salt diets (2-3g/d). Too much intake of salt will cause retention of water in the body and aggravate edema.

2. Avoid sea foods, beef, mutton, spicy foods and inducing matters such as coriander, aniseed, coffee, etc.

3. Water. Under normal circumstances, the daily water intake should be 1-2 kg. However, for nephrotic syndrome patients, they should limit the intake water or the water retention in the body will worsen edema and high blood pressure. The proper water intake should be urine output plus 500ml and more water can be taken if the urine output increase. If the urine output is normal, water should not be limited especially in case of urinary tract infections.

Nephrotic syndrome patients should have proper amount of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as high-quality proteins.