Medical Nutrition Therapy in Diabetic Nephropathy

Abstract

Diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of end-stage renal diseases. It affects 40% of type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients. Diabetic nephropathy is characterized by excessive protein excretion caused by increased glomerular permeability and correlated with the glomerular damage grade. In development and acceleration of nephropathy, some factors such as, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, genetic factors, smoking, imbalanced nutrition play important roles. In pathogenesis of nephropathy, hemodynamic factors, glucose dependent pathways (advanced glycation endproducts), polyol pathway, increased of protein C kinase activity, and cytokines are responsible. In diabetic nephropathy there are 5 stages. The final phase is stage five kidney diseases, also known as kidney failure or end-stage renal disease. Patients in this phase require dialysis or transplantation to survive. Prevention from nephropathy, to control the risk factors is very important.