Benefits in consuming plant-based milks during CKD
Changes in lifestyle that include the practice of physical exercise, proper nutrition, and smoking cessation are important factors that, when associated with the control of blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipid profile, contribute to decrease the rate of progression of CKD. More importantly a proper diet is an important part for the treatment for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Recently, the approaches used to advise patients with CKD regarding diet have been discussed because of the difficulty in getting patients to adhere to the recommendations. In such a situation researchers from New York University have identified that the best alternatives for dairy milk in the diet for CKD as well as those prone to Kidney Stone is plant-based milks. Consuming plant-based milks during CKD has gained its popularity owing to environmental protection and animal welfare considerations.
As compared to dairy milk, plant-based milks have low potassium, sodium and oxalate content. But when researchers compared different types of plant-based milks such as cashew, soy, hazelnut, coconut, hemp, oat, macadamia, rice, flax and almond, they found that oat, macadamia, rice, flax and soy were similar to diary milk in terms of risk for kidney disease, while almond and cashew said to have more potential risk. However, coconut milk is their safest bet to consider plant-based milks during CKD.
Others avoid dairy because of animal rights concerns or environmental consequences, such as carbon emissions, land and water use, and decreasing biodiversity, according to the study. Because modelling studies have predicted significant increases in kidney disease as a result of climate change, replacing dairy with plant-based milks with favorable stone risk profiles is an appealing alternative for lowering future kidney disease risk at the individual and societal level.
