Plant-Based Diets and Incident CKD and Kidney Function

Background And Objectives: The association between plant-based diets, incident CKD, and kidney function decline has not been examined in the general population. We prospectively investigated this relationship in a population-based study, and evaluated if risk varied by different types of plant-based diets.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: Analyses were conducted in a sample of 14,686 middle-aged adults enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Diets were characterized using four plant-based diet indices. In the overall plant-based diet index, all plant foods were positively scored; in the healthy plant-based diet index, only healthful plant foods were positively scored; in the provegetarian diet, selected plant foods were positively scored. In the less healthy plant-based diet index, only less healthful plant foods were positively scored. All indices negatively scored animal foods. We used Cox proportional hazards models to study the association with incident CKD and linear mixed models to examine decline in eGFR, adjusting for confounders.

Results: During a median follow-up of 24 years, 4343 incident CKD cases occurred. Higher adherence to a healthy plant-based diet (HR comparing quintile 5 versus quintile 1 [HR], 0.86; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.78 to 0.96; for trend =0.001) and a provegetarian diet (HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.82 to 0.99; for trend =0.03) were associated with a lower risk of CKD, whereas higher adherence to a less healthy plant-based diet (HR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.21; for trend =0.04) was associated with an elevated risk. Higher adherence to an overall plant-based diet and a healthy plant-based diet was associated with slower eGFR decline. The proportion of CKD attributable to lower adherence to healthy plant-based diets was 4.1% (95% CI, 0.6% to 8.3%).

Conclusions: Higher adherence to healthy plant-based diets and a vegetarian diet was associated with favorable kidney disease outcomes.