Food as medicine: targeting the uraemic phenotype in chronic kidney disease

Mafra, D., Borges, N. A., Lindholm, B., Shiels, P. G. , Evenepoel, P. and Stenvinkel, P. (2021) Food as medicine: targeting the uraemic phenotype in chronic kidney disease. Nature Reviews Nephrology, 17, pp. 153-171. (doi: 10.1038/s41581-020-00345-8) (PMID:32963366)

Abstract

The observation that unhealthy diets (those that are low in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and high in sugar, salt, saturated fat and ultra-processed foods) are a major risk factor for poor health outcomes has boosted interest in the concept of ‘food as medicine’. This concept is especially relevant to metabolic diseases, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), in which dietary approaches are already used to ameliorate metabolic and nutritional complications. Increased awareness that toxic uraemic metabolites originate not only from intermediary metabolism but also from gut microbial metabolism, which is directly influenced by diet, has fuelled interest in the potential of ‘food as medicine’ approaches in CKD beyond the current strategies of protein, sodium and phosphate restriction. Bioactive nutrients can alter the composition and metabolism of the microbiota, act as modulators of transcription factors involved in inflammation and oxidative stress, mitigate mitochondrial dysfunction, act as senolytics and impact the epigenome by altering one-carbon metabolism. As gut dysbiosis, inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, premature ageing and epigenetic changes are common features of CKD, these findings suggest that tailored, healthy diets that include bioactive nutrients as part of the foodome could potentially be used to prevent and treat CKD and its complications.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Shiels, Professor Paul
• Authors: Mafra, D., Borges, N. A., Lindholm, B., Shiels, P. G., Evenepoel, P., and Stenvinkel, P.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences
• Journal Name: Nature Reviews Nephrology
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 1759-5061
• ISSN (Online): 1759-507X
• Published Online: 22 September 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Springer Nature Limited
• First Published: First published in Nature Reviews Nephrology 17:153-171
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy