Dietary Patterns Linked to Chronic Kidney Disease Risk

THURSDAY, Aug. 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Compared with other dietary indices, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) provide chronic kidney disease (CKD) risk discrimination, according to a study published online Aug. 5 in Renal Failure.

Xianglong Meng, from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Chengdu, and colleagues examined associations between four indices (Healthy Eating Index-2020; alternative Mediterranean Diet Score; DASH; and DII) and CKD risk using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2000 and 2020.

The researchers found that DASH and DII were significantly associated with CKD risk (odds ratios, 0.880 and 1.099, respectively); only DII was associated with CKD severity progression (odds ratio, 1.264). Incremental utility, second to comorbidities and age, was provided by dietary indices. CKD risk was reduced in association with greater adherence to DASH/DII, with results consistent across subgroups of men, individuals aged older than 65 years, non-Hispanic White individuals, smokers and nonsmokers, family income-to-poverty ratio >3.5, and those with hypertension or without diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

“These findings support integrating DASH and DII into CKD risk assessment to optimize prevention strategies, underscoring their potential as targeted interventions for reducing CKD risk and progression,” the authors write.

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