2023-12-12 11:45:15
The progressive loss of kidney function is one of the main health problems that people suffer as they age, and can lead to the appearance of chronic kidney disease. This pathology affects 10% of the world’s population and is estimated to be the fifth cause of death from a non-communicable disease in 2040. It is associated with a worse quality of life and associated problems such as obesity and hypertension, in addition to the burden economic that it means for the health system.
With the desire to identify the main risk factors, a study led by the Food, Nutrition, Development and Mental Health research group of the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in the province of Tarragona, the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute ( IISPV) in Tarragona and the Network Biomedical Research Center for the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), in Spain, have evaluated the relationship between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and kidney function.
In collaboration with the research consortium of the PREDIMED-Plus study, the authors of the new study recorded the frequency of food consumption of some 2,000 older adults with high cardiovascular risk from several cities in Spain and collected blood samples and other data of interest. related to kidney function.
The results obtained showed that greater consumption of ultra-processed foods was related to lower levels of glomerular filtration rate, a key marker of kidney function status, as well as a greater risk of presenting decreased kidney function. They also observed that a change during one year towards a greater consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with a decrease in kidney function during the subsequent three years of follow-up.
With these results, the research team suggests reducing the consumption of ultra-processed foods to promote good kidney functionality. They also recommend, especially for people at risk of cardiovascular disease, to increase the intake of vegetables such as fruits, vegetables, legumes or nuts or to adhere to the traditional Mediterranean diet.
The work has been carried out by URV predoctoral researcher Cristina Valle Hita and led by Nancy Babio, researcher and associate professor at the URV; Andrés Díaz López, Serra Hunter researcher at the URV; Nerea Becerra Tomás, postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London and collaborator at the URV and Jordi Salas-Salvadó, professor at the URV and director of the research group. The entire team is a member of CIBEROBN and IISPV.
From left to right, Andrés Díaz, Nancy Babio, Cristina Valle and Nerea Becerra, from the research team that participated in the study. (Photo: URV)
The study is titled “Associations Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Kidney Function in an Older Adult Population with Metabolic Syndrome.” And it has been published in the academic journal Clinical Nutrition. (Source: URV)
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