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Mediterranean Diet May Preserve Function After Kidney Transplant

Risk reduced for graft failure, kidney function decline, graft loss per 2-point increase in adherence score

FRIDAY, Jan. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with better kidney function outcomes among kidney transplant recipients, according to a study published online Jan. 2 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

António W. Gomes-Neto, M.D., from the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, and colleagues examined the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and kidney outcomes in 632 adult kidney transplant recipients. A 177-item validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake, and a 9-point Mediterranean Diet Score was used to assess adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

The researchers found that 76 individuals developed graft failure, 119 developed kidney function decline, and 181 developed graft loss during a follow-up of 5.4 years. There was an inverse association noted for the Mediterranean Diet Score with all study end points, independent of potential confounders, with hazard ratios of 0.68, 0.68, and 0.75 for graft failure, kidney function decline, and graft loss, respectively, per 2-point increase in the Mediterranean Diet Score. Effect modifiers included 24-hour urinary protein excretion and time since transplantation; stronger inverse associations were seen for individuals with higher urinary protein excretion and with more recent transplants.

“In this study, we show that kidney transplant recipients with higher adherence to the Mediterranean Diet are less likely to experience function loss of their kidney transplant,” Gomes-Neto said in a statement.

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