Kidney Nutrition for Value-Based Care Models: The Role of Low Protein Diets and Keto-Analogue Supplementation to...

Government-led dialysis programs in most countries primarily focus on quality and safety measures for dialysis initiation and management. However, in the United States, CKD management may be shifting upstream of dialysis initiation toward value-based care models that prioritize delaying dialysis initiation and improving outcomes for patients with advanced CKD (stages 4 and 5 CKD). Nutritional interventions, particularly low and very low protein diets supplemented with keto-analogues of amino acids, are re-emerging as key strategies to reduce nitrogenous waste production, manage uremia, and slow CKD progression without causing malnutrition. Indeed, supplemented diets can help correct protein-energy wasting. Clinical trials and meta-analyses suggest that these diets can prolong dialysis-free periods and improve quality of life, although patient adherence and careful monitoring are crucial. This approach maintains nutritional status, while adjunct therapies, such as blood pressure control, volume management with diuretics, improved glycemic control, and anemia treatment with new oral medications, can manage comorbidities effectively without dialysis. Patients on such dietary regimens and their care partners often experience fewer unpleasant symptoms, greater satisfaction, and reduced transportation burdens. Unlike disease progression pharmacotherapies that are frequently associated with hyperkalemia, acute kidney injury, infections, and weight loss in very low kidney function (<25% of normal), nutritional interventions are usually safe and patient-centered. Incorporating nutritional strategies into value-based care aligns with cost-effectiveness, preservation of residual kidney function, and end-of-life planning, offering a holistic approach to CKD management. These interventions also support incremental dialysis transition, where keto-analogue supplemented very low protein diets continue on nondialysis days versus higher protein intake on dialysis days 1-2 times/week. Whereas quality and safety measures are needed to assess diet program success, integrating nutritional strategies with adjunct pharmacotherapy in value-based care models offers a multimodal, cost-effective strategy to improve outcomes and reduce health care costs for patients with very low kidney function without dialysis or with less frequent dialysis.