Dietary therapy in chronic renal failure. (A comedy of errors)

Controversies still exist about the use and the effects of low protein diets in chronic renal failure. The contrasting - sometimes opposite - results published over the last 30 years in several studies can be read and explained by a series of errors included in those studies. The new Comedy of Errors starts from the misinterpretation of experimental studies, the lack of appropriacy of clinical trials' design; it continues with neglecting the role of patients' compliance as well as of other clinical findings, here included the role of blood pressure. Finally pitfalls in the intrepretation of the results of clinical trials and meta-analyses were identified.