Plant-based diets and incident CKD and kidney function

Background and objectives The association between plant-based diets, incidentCKD, and kidney function decline has not been examined in the general population.Weprospectively investigated this relationship in a populationbased study, and evaluated if risk varied by different types of plant-based diets. Design, setting, participants, & measurements Analyseswere conducted in a sample of 14,686middle-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 foodswere 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 foodswere 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-baseddiet (HRcomparing quintile 5versusquintile 1 [HR_{Q5 versus Q1}], 0.86; 95%confidence interval [95%CI], 0.78 to 0.96; P for trend =0.001) and a provegetarian diet (HR_{Q5 versus Q1}, 0.90; 95%CI, 0.82 to 0.99; P for trend =0.03) were associated with a lower risk of CKD, whereas higher adherence to a less healthy plant-based diet (HR_{Q5 versus Q1}, 1.11; 95%CI, 1.01 to 1.21; P for trend =0.04)was associatedwith 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.