The Mediterranean diet is getting more attention because of its long-term benefits in terms of overall mortality and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk.

The diet improves a wide range of metabolic parameters—including blood lipids, blood pressure, and insulin sensitivity—so it may be a good model diet to teach patients with renal disease. Studies have shown that adherence to a Mediterranean diet significantly improves creatinine clearance

Other potential benefits of the Mediterranean diet may include the higher intakes of phytates which, due to their ability to bind calcium, may reduce endothelium calcifications typically found in dialysis populations

Calorie Restriction in Chronic Kidney Disease

Overall caloric restriction, though, may be a confounding factor. For example, recent studies have indicated similar improvement in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients instructed to follow either low fat, low carbohydrate, or a Mediterranean diet (Diabetes Care 2013; published online ahead of print).

Similar results also occurred in the PREDIMED study, in which no significant improvements were found when a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either nuts or olive oil were compared with a control low fat diet (Am J Kidney Dis 2012;60:380-389).

Of note, further analysis has found that the Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts induced a higher potential renal acid load and net endogenous acid production compared with the Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil (J Am Geriatr Soc 2009;57:1789-1798).

The nut-supplemented group experienced significantly higher parathyroid hormone levels.

Mediterranean Diet is a significant style in the cuisines of countries like Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, Turkey, Italy, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya, Jordan, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, Slavic Macedonia, Malta, Italy, Tunisia, Kosova, France, Algeria, Monaco, Morocco, and Spain.

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