Feasibility, Safety and Efficacy of a Predominantly Plant-based Diet in an Asian Population With Chronic Kidney Disease

This two-year follow up, single-center, open-label, feasibility study will recruit outpatients from the Renal Medicine Clinic at Changi General Hospital. Eligible patients with Stage 3 or 4 CKD will be assigned preferencebased to either a plant-based diet intervention (intake of at least 50% protein from plant sources) with regular dietitian counselling and follow up, or a control group receiving dietitian counselling for general CKD dietary advice without information on percentage of plant-based foods. Six monthly assessments will include estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), serum potassium, nutritional markers, and other relevant biochemical parameters. Quality of life and dietary adherence will be evaluated through questionnaires and food frequency records. This study will evaluate primarily, the feasibility of a plant-based diet in the Singaporean context. Secondarily it will evaluate its safety in terms of incidence of hyperkalaemia, and benefit in terms of improvement in acidosis.

Other exploratory outcomes will include (1) preliminary efficacy of plant-based diets on CKD progression (measured by eGFR decline); (2) risk of nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin D, B12 and iron; and (3) impact on other biochemical parameters of CKD.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Diet Habit; Chronic Kidney Disease stage4; Chronic Kidney Disease stage3
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Predominantly Plant-Based CKD Diet; Other: Standard CKD Diet

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Singapore
  • Singapore, Singapore, 529889
    • Recruiting
    • Changi General Hospital
    • Contact: Saradha Anantharaman, MBBS, MMed Internal Medicine; Phone Number: 96749651; Email: anantharaman.saradha@singhealth.com.sg

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age 21-79 (Only adults who can give consent will be recruited. Older adults aged 80 are not included to reduce the risk of confounding due to age-related frailty, sarcopenia and multimorbidity. Additionally, older adults may have different nutritional needs and energy requirements)
2. CKD stage 3-4 (baseline eGFR 15-60ml/min/1.72m2 for the past 6 months)
3. Willingness to see a dietitian and follow either a standard CKD diet or a predominantly plant-based CKD diet
4. On maximum tolerated dose of ACE-inhibitors (Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors) or ARB (Aldosterone receptor blocker) as determined by Renal Physician in charge
5. Able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Transplant patients (who will tend to have more variable trajectories, immunosuppression related challenges etc which may make this study less feasible)
• Pregnant or lactating patients (who have different nutritional requirements than the standard CKD patients)
• Patients who were on any special diet for at least 1 month prior to recruitment (inclusive of
• long-term vegans or vegetarians) - excluded because they already have stable dietary habits
• Age <21 or >/= 80 (Avoid growing children who have different nutritional requirements and advanced elderly who are more likely to have malnutrition or sarcopenia due to other pre-existing causes)
• Those who have seen a dietitian for CKD previously
• Patients with severe ischemic heart disease, decompensated liver cirrhosis, malabsorptive diseases or malignancy
• Patients with BMI <18.5 or >40
• Patients with glomerulonephritis, genetic kidney disease or polycystic kidney disease
• Baseline serum potassium 5.0 and above
• Patients who are unable to modify their diet due to socio-economic issues.
• Exclude patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in the past 6 months prior to study (unstable renal disease

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Predominantly Plant-Based CKD Diet	Other: Predominantly Plant-Based CKD Diet; Subjects in the intervention group will receive personalised dietary advice & educational materials from a renal dietitian for retarding CKD progression (low salt, moderate protein) with additional focus on including more non-/minimally processed plant-based foods. Food recommended would be those easily obtained
Active Comparator: Standard CKD Diet	Other: Standard CKD Diet; Subjects in the control arm will receive advice from a renal dietician for general healthy eating for retarding CKD progression (low salt, low-moderate protein intake). No specific advice on percentage of protein intake contributed to by plant-based protein will be given.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Adherence to diet - based on Good vs Moderate vs Poor Adherence	Percentage adherence will be assessed independently by the dietician and investigator seeing the patient, then averaged.; Where there is a >10% difference in assessment between dietician and investigator, the results will be discussed, and a combined decision will be made on adherence level; >75% adherence - "Good Adherence"; 50-75% - "Moderate Adherence"; <50% - "Poor Adherence"	1 year
Acceptability of Diet	Acceptability of diet via Diet, palatability and appetite questionnaire. In the absence of a validated cut-off score, acceptability will be assessed based on the proportion of positive versus negative responses to each item in the Diet, Palatability, and Appetite Questionnaire. A higher porportion of positive responses suggests a more accepatable diet. >50% positive responses will indicate an acceptable diet while < 50% of positive responses will indicate an unacceptable diet.	1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Serum Potassium level in mmol/L	Potassium will be measured in mmol/L. Hyperkalaemia will be defined as serum potassium level > 5.3 mmol/L	1 year
Serum Bicarbonate Level (mmol/L)	Absolute serum bicarbonate level (mmol/L) will be measured. Metabolic acidosis will be defined as serum bicarbonate level < 20 mmol/L.	1 year

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Estimated GFR (ml/min/1.73m2) decline	Change in Estimated GFR (ml/min/1.73m2) over 1 year will be calculated	1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Changi General Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): April 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 31, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): April 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 22, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Behavior, Animal; Feeding Behavior
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2025-1195

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: Individual participant data (IPD) sharing is currently undecided. A data sharing plan will be developed at a later stage in accordance with institutional policies and applicable regulations.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No