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CHAPTER PART 9 OF 9

What we no longer say, and where all of this comes from

Each of these is in circulation in Indian renal practice, appears in handouts, and is not in any current guideline. Retiring them is part of adopting this chapter.

Section 10

What we no longer say

Each of these is in circulation in Indian renal practice, appears in handouts, and is not in any current guideline. Retiring them is part of adopting this chapter.

Commonly taughtWhat is actually the case
"Potassium 2,000 to 3,000 mg a day"No numeric potassium ceiling exists in KDOQI 2020 or KDIGO 2024. Both titrate to the serum value.
"Phosphorus 800 to 1,000 mg a day"Legacy KDOQI 2003. Current guidance says only: adjust intake to normalise serum phosphate, weighting the source.
"25 to 35 kcal per kg ideal body weight"KDOQI says only "body weight" and defers to clinical judgement. ESPEN is the only body that defines the reference weight, and it excludes actual body weight for protein.
"Fluid equals 1,000 ml plus urine output"In no current guideline. Interdialytic weight gain under 4 to 4.5 percent of body weight is the citable target.
"Fibre 25 to 30 g a day in CKD"From the plant-dominant low protein diet paper, not a guideline. No guideline gives a fibre number.
"Aim for nPCR above 1.0 to 1.2"Legacy KDOQI 2000. The current guideline sets no nPCR target and grades nPCR 2D.
"HbA1c under 7 percent on dialysis"KDIGO's 6.5 to 8.0 range explicitly excludes dialysis. No body sets a dialysis target.
"Time in range above 70 percent"The high-risk tier borrowed for CKD is above 50 percent, with time under 70 mg/dL below 1 percent.
"Serum albumin tells you the nutrition status"Graded 1A as a predictor of hospitalisation and death, and explicitly not to be interpreted in isolation as a nutrition marker.
"Potassium binders let the patient eat fruit again"A reasonable hypothesis under trial. The registration trials did not liberalise diet, and no guideline says this.
"Ash gourd is a low potassium vegetable"372 mg per 100 g in IFCT 2017. Higher than brinjal or carrot. Reclassify.
"Use rock salt, it is better for the kidneys"Rock salt is sodium chloride. Low-sodium salt is potassium chloride. Neither helps and one is dangerous.
"Restrict potassium in every CKD patient"Restriction treats hyperkalaemia. It does not prevent it, and applied to a normokalaemic patient it causes harm.
Sources

What this chapter is built on

Where a statement is expert practice rather than guideline, it is flagged in the text. Two items below are drafts or non-guideline reviews and are marked as such.

Guidelines

  1. Ikizler TA, Burrowes JD, Byham-Gray LD, et al. KDOQI Clinical Practice Guideline for Nutrition in CKD: 2020 Update. Am J Kidney Dis. 2020;76(3 Suppl 1):S1–S107.
  2. KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease. Kidney Int. 2024;105(4S):S117–S314.
  3. KDIGO 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Diabetes Management in Chronic Kidney Disease. Kidney Int. 2022;102(5S):S1–S127.
  4. KDIGO 2026 Diabetes and CKD Guideline Update, Public Review Draft, March 2026. Draft, not ratified.
  5. KDIGO 2017 CKD-MBD Guideline Update. Kidney Int Suppl. 2017;7(1):1–59.
  6. American Diabetes Association. Chronic Kidney Disease and Risk Management: Standards of Care in Diabetes 2026. Diabetes Care. 2026;49(Suppl 1):S246. The verbatim grade A protein text quoted in part two is from the 2025 edition, Recommendation 11.8.
  7. Fiaccadori E, Cupisti A, et al. ESPEN practical guideline on clinical nutrition in hospitalized patients with acute or chronic kidney disease. Clin Nutr. 2024;43(11):2238–2254.
  8. Navaneethan SD, Bansal N, Cavanaugh KL, et al. KDOQI US Commentary on the KDIGO 2024 CKD Guideline. Am J Kidney Dis. 2024.
  9. IDF and DAR International Alliance. Diabetes and Ramadan Practical Guidelines 2021.

Indian sources

  1. Longvah T, Ananthan R, Bhaskarachary K, Venkaiah K. Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. National Institute of Nutrition, ICMR, Hyderabad. All food values in parts four and five derive from this unless the page says otherwise.
  2. Sinha A, Prasad N. How to Give Dietary Advice to Patients with Kidney Disease? Indian J Nephrol. 2025;35(2):178–186. A practice review, not a national guideline. India has no graded renal-nutrition clinical practice guideline.
  3. Govindan S, Iyengar A, Mohanasundaram S, Priyamvada PS. Nutrition Compass: Guiding Patients with CKD Across Ages. Indian J Nephrol. 2025;35:187–197.
  4. Indian Dietetic Association, Balanced Diet for Indians (citing the NIN dietary guidelines manual), source of the 30 g cereal, 30 g pulse and 100 g vegetable serving standard used throughout. ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024, for daily quantities.
  5. Johnson C, Thout SR, Mohan S, et al. Labelling completeness and sodium content of packaged foods in India. Public Health Nutr. 2017;20(16):2839–2846.
  6. Yasmin A, Rajam SV. Potassium analysis of cooking water and selected vegetables before and after leaching by different cooking methods. Int J Sci Res. 2013;2(2):172–174. Srilakshmi OB, Supriya V, Hemamalini AJ. Effect of Leaching on the Potassium Content of Foods for CKD Patients. BJSTR. 2024;58(1). Both are used for their percentage reductions only; their absolute baseline values conflict with IFCT 2017.

Evidence cited in the text

  1. McMahon EJ, Campbell KL, Bauer JD, et al. Altered dietary salt intake for people with chronic kidney disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021;(6):CD010070.
  2. Hahn D, Hodson EM, Fouque D. Low protein diets for non-diabetic adults with CKD. Cochrane 2020;(10):CD001892. Jiang S, Fang J, Li W. Low protein diets for adults with diabetic kidney disease. Cochrane 2023;(1):CD014906.
  3. Fouque D, Kalantar-Zadeh K, Kopple J, et al. A proposed nomenclature and diagnostic criteria for protein-energy wasting. Kidney Int. 2008;73(4):391–398. Carrero JJ, et al. Global Prevalence of Protein-Energy Wasting. J Ren Nutr. 2018;28(6):380–392.
  4. Noori N, Sims JJ, Kopple JD, et al. Organic and inorganic dietary phosphorus and its management in chronic kidney disease. Iran J Kidney Dis. 2010;4(2):89–100.
  5. Galindo RJ, et al. Glycemic Monitoring and Management in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease. Endocr Rev. 2020. Rhee CM, et al. Consensus Report on the Use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring in CKD and Diabetes. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2025;19(1):217–245.
  6. Moen MF, et al. Frequency of hypoglycemia and its significance in chronic kidney disease. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2009. Hemodialysis-Related Glycemic Disarray Proven by Continuous Glucose Monitoring. Diabetes Care. 2021;44(7):1647.
  7. Perkovic V, et al. Effects of Semaglutide on Chronic Kidney Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes (FLOW). N Engl J Med. 2024. CREDENCE, DAPA-CKD and EMPA-KIDNEY as cited in part six.
  8. Clark WF, et al. Effect of coaching to increase water intake on kidney function decline (CKD-WIT). JAMA. 2018;319(18):1870–1879.
  9. Bossola M, et al. How to Limit Interdialytic Weight Gain in Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis. J Clin Med. 2025;14(6):1846.
  10. Fasting in chronic kidney disease during Ramadan: practical guidance. Clin Kidney J. 2021;14(6):1524. RaK Initiative consensus, BMC Nephrol. 2024.