Eating Southern-style cuisine Increases Mortality Risk in Patients of Kidney Diseases: Study

Foodies who love eating Southern-style cuisine comprising of processed meat, oily snacks and sugary drinks are likely to die from chronic kidney diseases, warns a study.

Consuming a diet rich in fat, sugar and sodium damages the kidneys over time.  The carbohydrates broken down from the meals increase the level of glucose in the blood stream adding too much pressure on the kidneys. Excessive sodium and calcium oxalate in food crystallize to form stones in the kidney tubules. Experts at University of Alabama found intake of Southern-style diet increases mortality risk in patients of chronic  kidney disease.

The records from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke, or REGARDS study had nearly 3,972 participants who were in stage three or stage five CKD but had not undergone dialysis procedure. During six year of follow-up, the researchers noted subjects' diet pattern and identified those who regularly ate Southern cuisine had 50 percent increased chances of dying.

Participants who followed a healthy and nutritious diet of fruits and vegetables saw improvements in survival rate indicating diet regime influences kidney health in patients of renal diseases.

"For clinicians, this suggests that focusing on modifying general patterns of foods that people eat, instead of individual components of the foods like salt intake or fat intake, may be more helpful in counseling patients," said Orlando Gutiérrez, study author and associate professor of medicine in the division of nephrology in the University of Alabama in a news release.

"It may be more helpful to focus on general patterns of eating instead of individual nutrients since this may be easier for patients to conceptualize and therefore actualize."

The authors are unsure if southern-style diet is the primary cause of health deterioration in CKD patients. However, they urge people to adopt healthy eating habits and exercise daily to reduce disease complication and early death.

More information is available online in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.