Malnutrition in Dialysis Patients--The Need for Intervention Despite Uncertain Benefits

We are in the midst of an epidemic of overnutrition which has resulted in a widespread increase in obesity rates in modern societies. Yet for patients suffering from serious chronic illnesses such as end stage renal disease (ESRD), malnutrition (encompassing both inadequate quantity and quality of nutrient intake) represents a far more significant danger. Protein-energy wasting has been identified as one of the strongest risk factor for adverse outcomes in ESRD patients, and modeling studies have suggested that improving nutrition could result in substantial lowering of mortality rates and other benefits. To date there is ample evidence that various interventions can have a positive impact on the nutritional status of ESRD patients, yet we still lack randomized controlled clinical trials showing that the same interventions could indeed lead to better survival or other clinical benefits. This knowledge gap, which is all too common for clinical problems encountered in nephrology, should not act as a deterrent, but it should rather incentivize us to continue exploring novel interventions aimed at improving malnutrition in ESRD.