Diet Principles for Patients at Stage 3 of Kidney Disease

Kidney Disease usually develops progressively. The kidneys do not fail at once, but in a gradual way. Based on glomerular filtration rate, kidney disease can be divided into 5 stages. At stage 3 of Kidney Disease, the glomerular filtration rate is 30~59 ml/min and the kidneys are damaged moderately and the symptoms are mild. If the patients can follow proper diet principle, it will help prolong kidney functioning.

1. Fat

As the patients at stage 3 of kidney disease should keep a low protein diet, it is very important for them to guarantee enough calories and increase the fat intake properly. However, over the long-term, the patients should choose foods with low saturated fat to protect their heart and blood vessels. Many patients with kidney disease are often complicated with cardiovascular diseases, which can aggravate kidney disease. Therefore, the patients at stage 3 of kidney disease should eat food with unsaturated fats.

2. Protein

At stage 3 of kidney disease, the patients should keep proper high-quality protein intake. The patients are recommended to keep the daily protein intake within 1 gram for each kilogram of body weight. Moreover, our body needs to obtain necessary amino acid from protein. Therefore, they should keep the proper intake of protein with abundant amino acid like eggs, lean meat, dairy and other animal protein.

3. Iron and folate

Anemia is a common complication of stage 3 of kidney disease. It results from insufficient secretion of hormone erythropoietin as the kidney function declines. Erythropoietin is important as it can make the bone marrow to produce red blood cells. In order to correct anemia, extra folate, B-12 or iron are recommended to the patients. Iron and B-12 are available from red meat, while folate is abundant in green leafy vegetables.

4. Vitamin D

At stage 3 of kidney disease, the patients are at risk of vitamin D deficiency thus leading to bone disease. Vitamin D is available for strong bones and also helps in the treatment of kidney disease. According to some researches, vitamin D can help regulate angiotensin II that can damage heart, arteries and lead to hypertension.


The above has listed the main diet principles for the patients at stage 3 of kidney disease. If they can follow the diet principles strictly, it will be certainly able to slow down the disease progression. However, as the disease conditions vary with different patients, making specific diet principles should depend on the patients’ disease condition and their test results like blood test, urine test and so on. If you want to get a personalized diet plan, you can email to kidney-treatment@hotmail.com or consult us on line.