People who consume a Mediterranean diet may have a lower risk of developing chronic kidney disease, a new study suggests.

The Mediterranean diet involves a high intake of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains. Fish, poultry and olive oil are also consumed regularly, while red meat, processed foods and saturated fats are rarely eaten.

Chronic kidney disease means that the kidneys have, over time, lost their ability to perform as well as they used to. This leads to a build-up of toxins in the blood. The disease can range from mild to the most severe - end-stage kidney disease, which usually requires dialysis and/or a kidney transplant.

According to the Irish Kidney Association, as many as one in 10 Irish people have some form of chronic kidney

disease.
US scientists noted that while different types of diet have been assessed to see if they could slow down the decline of kidney function, until now, it has been unknown whether a Mediterranean-style diet could affect kidney function.

They followed the progress of 900 people for just under seven years.

The participants were given a score for how closely they followed the patterns of a Mediterranean diet. The higher their score, the more they consumed this type of diet.

The study found that if people had a score of five or more, which indicated close adherence to a Mediterranean diet, their risk of developing chronic kidney disease fell by 50%.
Overall, for every one point increase in the Mediterranean score, the risk of chronic kidney disease fell by 17%.

Details of these findings are published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.