Help your kidneys: Pass the salt and diet soda

People who have diets rich in sodium or artificially sweetened drinks consume more of a decline in the experience of kidney function, according to two documents will be presented at the American Society of Nephrology annual meeting in San Diego, California.

Julie Lin MD, MPH, FASN and Gary Curhan, MD, ScD, FASN the Brigham and Women's Hospital studied more than 3,000 women participating in the Nurses Health Study to identify the effects of sodium and sugary drinks on renal function.

"There is currently little data on the role of diet in renal disease," said Lin. "While more study is needed to present our research, the highest sodium and artificially sweetened soda receiving a greater rate of decline of renal function are connected."

The first study, "Associations of Diet with decreasing renal function," examines the influence of different nutrients in food on the decline of renal function over 11 years in more than 3,000 women participating in the Nurses Health Study. The authors found that "in women with well-preserved renal function, increased intake of dietary sodium was associated with decreased renal function which is consistent with experimental data from animal experiments in line, that the 'high sodium intake promotes gradual decline of the kidney. "

The second study, which is also sweetened by Dr. Lin and Dr. Curhan, "associations of drinks with the decline of renal function," examines the influence of sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened soft drinks on the decline renal function in the same group health nurses' Participants in the study. An analysis of nationally representative participants of NHANES III had previously reported an association between sweetened soda and protein in urine, but data were not available on changes in renal function. This study found "significant double odds rose between two or more servings per day of soda and sugary rapid decline of renal function, no relationship between sugary drinks and decline of renal function was found," said Mr. Lin. This association remained even after the authors of the study takes into account age, caloric intake, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, physical activity and disease cardiovascular disease. Mechanisms of declining kidney through high consumption of artificial sweeteners has not been studied previously and deserves further investigation.