High Animal and Vegetarian Protein Intake in Hemodialysis Patients
Choi et al reported remarkable results in a pilot study involving 18 hemodialysis (HD) patients receiving high-protein meals during HD session.1 This single-center nonrandomized experience compared 9 patients nourished with meals of ∼30 g protein for 25 consecutive HD sessions and 9 control HD patients to evaluate the effect of high-protein meals on symptomatic hypotensive events. The authors did not point any significant difference on frequency of the outcome considered (P = .56), and the baseline characteristics reported higher blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and higher, even if not significant, normalized protein catabolic rate (nPCR) values in the control group: BUN 61 ± 16 versus 45 ± 14, P .03, respectively, and nPCR 1.15 ± 0.29 versus 0.92 ± 0.24, P .09, respectively.