Influence of diet on lipid abnormalities in human renal disease

The scarce literature on dietary manipulation of dyslipidemia in patients with nephrotic syndrome and in patients with chronic renal insufficiency is reviewed. Our favorable personal experience in both clinical conditions is illustrated as well. A special low-protein soy diet given for 2 or 4 months partially corrected hypercholesterolemia in nephrotic patients, and a low-protein diet also low in cholesterol and rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids corrected hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia in patients with progressive renal damage. The soy diet had an additional favorable effect on proteinuria of nephrotic patients that might have been a direct consequence of the partial correction of the hypercholesterolemia. The addition of 5 g/d of fish oil to the soy diet did not modify the effects of the soy diet on proteinuria nor was it able to correct the hypertriglyceridemia of nephrotic patients. Dietary intervention should be the first-line treatment for the dyslipidemia of these renal diseases, since it can be used for long periods of time and is devoid of side effects so long as good nutritional status is maintained.