Reasonable Diets for Polycystic Kidney Disease

Polycystic kidney disease is hereditary and will accompany the patients for life-long time. Though there is at present no cure for PKD, patients should not wait passively and hopelessly for the progressive deterioration of the illness conditions.

What can be done is to slow down the illness progression and bring the symptoms and complications well under control so as to delay the start of dialysis or completely avoid dialysis if proper preventions and treatments are adopted timely.

Reasonable diet is one crucial part for PKD patients and what are the proper diets for them?

What are the proper drinks for PKD patients?

PKD patients should drink more water and it is recommended that they have about 4000ml water intake and maintain urine output of 2000-2500ml. And it will be better to add lemon juice to the water. Avoid alcohol, strong tea, coffee and any caffeine-containing drinks because caffeine can promote the cell proliferation and secretion of cystic fluids.

What are the proper foods for PKD patients?

1. Have less salt. Low-salt diets have many benefits to PKD patients. It can help maintain more urine output, slow the cyst growth and fluid secretion as well as reducing the risk of infections and kidney stones. It can also help control high blood pressure and damages caused by high blood pressure.

2. Have less protein. The protein in diets should be controlled within 0.7-1.0g/kg/d. And in stage 3 chronic kidney disease, the daily protein intake should be 0.6g/kg so as to reduce burdens to the kidneys. Because when the liver breaks down protein, it will produce a waste product called urea which needs to be discharged out of the body through the filtration of the kidneys and too much intake of protein will add extra burdens to the kidneys.

3. Have less potassium. If patients have obvious hyperkalaemia, the intake of fruits that are high in potassium such as orange and banana should be limited.

Besides proper diets, it is recommended that PKD patients can do some mild and gentle activities such as walking, jogging, tai chi, etc. during which more attention should be paid to avoid over-tiredness and physical traumas.