Mumbai, Nov 27: Patients suffering from chronic renal failure (CRF) have shown to be suffering from malnutrition when they were assessed for their biochemical and nutritional status. Malnutrition among CRF patients pose a risk for further complications in the treatment, a study conducted by college of home science, Nirmala Niketan and Nanavati Hospital said adding that monitoring would improve the quality of life.

CRF causes an impairment of kidney and disturbance of the metabolism, and it has been found that long-term maintenance of the residual renal function in these patients, by dietary modification was a challenge to dieticians, Dr Urvashi Mehta said in a paper presented at the national conference on renal diseases, medical, dietary and psychological implications.

Mehta said, the hospital conducted a study for three months on 16 CRF patients from the renal unit and the anthropometric, biochemcial and nutritional assessments of the patients were done, using standard procedures.
Standardisation and sensory evaluation of recipes, to be used in pre and post dialysis period, was conducted and standard Indian regional diets were formulated, which could be individualised as per patient's needs, Mehta said.

Results of these study indicated that as per the anthropolometrical parameters, the majority of patients were in the malnourished zone. The nutritional assessment indicated poor food intake, due to anorexia and decreased caloric intake leading to lower protein intake-- thus at risk of severe malnutrition, she added.

Bureau Report