Potentials of ketogenic diet against chronic kidney diseases: pharmacological insights and therapeutic prospects

Abstract

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide public health concern. Nutritional interventions become a primary concern in managing various diseases, including CKD. Ketogenic diets (KD) are a popular diet and an increasingly used diet for weight loss. Main body: With the increasing cases of CKD, KD has been proposed as a treatment by many scientists. Several studies have shown that KD can slow down the progression rate of renal abnormalities. Also, this diet is regarded as a safe route for managing CKD. CKD is generally associated with increased inflammation, oxidative stress, fibrosis, autophagy dysfunction, and mitochondrial dysfunction, while all of these can be attenuated by KD. The protective effect of KD is mainly mediated through inhibition of ROS, NF-κB, and p62 signaling. Conclusions: It is suggested that KD could be considered a new strategy for managing and treating CKD more carefully. This review explores the potential of KD on CKD and the mechanism involved in KD-mediated kidney protection. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.