Prepared Meals to Prime and Perpetuate Reduced Dietary Sodium Intake in Hemodialysis

Prepared Meals to Prime and Perpetuate Reduced Dietary Sodium Intake in Hemodialysis

This is a randomized clinical trial in which maintenance hemodialysis patients will be provided with salt restricted 'dialysis friendly' meals and compared to a control arm receiving usual care.

Patients randomized to the intervention arm will receive 2 months of meals plus dietary counseling. Counseling will continue for an additional 3 months while the control arm will have 5 months of usual care followed by 2 months of meal provision. Effects on interdialytic weight gain, achievement of target dry weight, intradialytic hypotension episodes, blood pressure, and a volume assessment using lung U/S to assess lung water will be measured. Salt sensitivity will be tested throughout the study. Self reported questionnaires about the burden of adhering to the low salt diet and the level of adherence with it will be completed at baseline and throughout the study. The investigator hypothesizes that the prepared meals with prime patients behavior and may alter salt taste perception and that these effects will be sustained after the prepared meals have stopped.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age >18
2. Treated with outpatient hemodialysis for >60 days
3. Mean IDWG over the past 30 days >2 kg
4. Speaks and understands English or Chinese
5. Patient has a freezer at home with space to store at least 7 prepared meals
6. Cognitively intact (able to provide informed consent and answer questionnaires)

Exclusion Criteria:

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