Protein Intake of Nephrotic Syndrome

Patients with Nephrotic Syndrome will lose a great amount of protein through urine. If they don’t supplement enough protein in time, it will cause severe deficiency of protein of the body. Protein is the essential substance to sustain our lives, so if the protein is deficient, it will cause edema, or any other diseases which may even threaten the people’s life. Some rumors say that the kidney disease patients should not eat meat, eggs, alepidote fish etc, it is not scientific. We should formulate the diet depending on the actual condition. For patients with Nephrotic Syndrome, they should have more protein, especially some high-quality protein, such as milk, chicken, lean meat, fish etc. However, they can’t take protein without restrictions. Too much protein will burden the kidneys and aggravate the renal damage.
Then how much protein intake is proper for the patients with Nephrotic Syndrome? We can answer this question from two aspects:
From one hand, if the patient’s renal function is normal, the intake amount of the protein is 1g/d every one kg weight and plus the amount protein lost in the urine.
From the other hand, if the patient has azotemia, (the urea nitrogen and serum creatinine is higher than the normal), they should properly limit the intake of protein. Generally the intake of protein should be better about 40g daily. The kidney disease patients should choose high-quality protein food. An egg contains about 6g protein, a bowl of milk (about 200ml) may contain 6g protein, 50g lean meat contains about 8g protein, and chicken contains more protein than lean meat but less than fish. Therefore, we can estimate the amount of the daily intake of protein for the patients.
We need a certain amount heat to sustain our lives. For those patients with azotemia, who should limit the intake of protein, should have enough carbohydrate, like cane sugar or glucose, vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin.
If the patients have edema, they should also limit the intake of salt. The general intake amount should be less than 3 g daily.