Dietary treatment of blood pressure in kidney disease

Most patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) also have hypertension. It is critical to control blood pressure in CKD to decrease the risk of negative outcomes. Modification of diet can reduce blood pressure, most notably in people with hypertension and in older adults. Current guidelines recommend reducing sodium intake to less than 2.4 g/day and increasing potassium and calcium intakes. Sodium reduction is supported for CKD patients in general. However, increasing potassium intake should be restricted in patients with glomerular filtration rate (GFR) less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2. In addition, because of the high phosphorus levels of many calcium-rich foods such as dairy products, calcium intake also should be limited in this low-GFR population. There is increasing evidence for the association of other nutrients such as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin C with blood pressure. Those nutrients are also discussed here.