Adults with chronic kidney disease have a great risk for high blood pressure and its potentially fatal complications. Limiting your sodium intake helps you control your blood pressure and kidney disease symptoms such as edema, or body swelling. Sodium occurs naturally in foods and is added in preparation as sodium chloride, or table salt. The more sodium you consume, the higher your blood pressure rises. If your condition progresses to kidney failure, your doctor will prescribe a sodium-restricted diet, which is typically 2 g, or 2,000 mg, of sodium, or less, per day.
Sodium Intake Levels
There are 2,300 mg of sodium in 1 tsp. of salt, but your body needs only about one-tenth of that amount to fulfill its metabolic roles. Kidney patients must limit sodium in the bloodstream to manage blood pressure and avoid fluid retention and swelling. You should do this by consuming less salt in your diet. Your doctor may suggest a sodium intake limit of 2,000 mg, 1,500 mg or less.
Significance
Eating fewer salty foods can reduce your daily symptoms from chronic kidney failure and make treatment more successful. Complying with a low-sodium diet prescription can keep you on moderate-glucose dialysis fluids and prevent weight gain from sugar calories. A low-sodium diet may also lower your blood pressure to improve your surgical risk in the event of a kidney transplant. Regulating your blood pressure can also prevent related cardiovascular complications such as heart failure, heart attack and stroke.
Foods to Avoid
It may be more difficult to avoid salt than to encounter healthy foods. Foods such as cereal, canned soup, canned tomatoes and beans, frozen pizza and cold cuts may have high sodium from added salt. Use the nutrition facts on foods labels to choose foods with 140 mg of sodium or less per serving. Check the sodium contents of proposed ingredients for your meals, including cheese, pickles, bottled condiments and seasoning salts, which you may have to limit or eliminate from your diet.
Foods to Encourage
You can get all the sodium your body needs without exceeding your daily salt intake limits by eating more fresh, unprocessed foods. Select fresh meats, fish, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, eggs, milk and unsalted nuts. All of these foods have less than 100 mg of sodium per suggested serving.
References
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
- National Kidney Foundation; Sodium and Your CKD Diet; 2011
- Harvard School of Public Health: Lower Salt and Sodium
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; 2 Gram Sodium Diet; April 2007
- National Kidney Foundation; Nutrition and Kidney Failure; 2010
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference
