Diet taboos for high maternal urine protein

Strictly limit high-salt intake, avoid thick meat soups that are too high in saturated fat, and do not blindly supplement high-protein foods. The specific range of taboos needs to be dynamically adjusted based on whether there is gestational hypertension and kidney damage indicators. There is no universal one-size-fits-all standard.

Last month, I accompanied my cousin-in-law, who was 38 weeks pregnant, to a prenatal check-up. She was found to have 1+ protein in her urine and her blood pressure had just crossed the threshold. She also had half a bag of home-pickled pickled radishes in her coat pocket to use as snacks while waiting for the doctor. The prenatal doctor saw it and "confiscated" it on the spot, saying that the abnormal protein in her urine was probably caused by her recent greed for salty food.

Believe it or not, many people only know to eat less salty foods such as pickles and bacon, but they ignore the invisible salt in confinement meals: light soy sauce added to chicken soup, chicken essence for flavor, purchased low-sugar confinement bread, and even the brown sugar glutinous rice eaten in confinement in some places contain a lot of sodium. A normal person's daily salt intake should be controlled at 5g. If a mother with high proteinuria and high blood pressure also has high blood pressure, it should be reduced to less than 3g, which is about half a beer cap. Be careful when eating, and don't think that it does not contain salt if it does not taste salty.

After my cousin came home, her mother-in-law prepared some thick white soup to replenish her body and produce milk, but I also stopped her. That kind of milky-white meat soup looks nutritious, but in fact most of it is emulsified fat. The fat content in 100ml of thick hoof soup can be more than 20 grams. After drinking it, the kidneys have to metabolize the excess lipids, which will increase the leakage of urinary protein. Let alone lactation, it is really troublesome to get the indicator up first. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t drink meat soup at all. Just skim off all the oil on the surface and drink a light soup base. If you want to supplement nutrition, eating stewed lean meat, fish and shrimp directly is more effective than drinking ten bowls of thick soup.

Interestingly, doctors from different departments will actually give different suggestions on whether high protein supplements can be used to treat high proteinuria, and there is no absolute standard answer. Many obstetricians will recommend supplementing more high-quality protein. After all, protein leaks out of the urine. If the mother has hypoalbuminemia, it will not only aggravate edema, but may also affect fetal development and slow down postpartum recovery. ； However, doctors in the Department of Nephrology tend to be more cautious. They prefer that if glomerular filtration dysfunction already exists, supplementing too much crude protein will increase the filtration pressure of the kidneys, causing more protein to leak, which will aggravate kidney damage.

Both sides of the argument are actually reasonable. The core is to look at personal indicators: if it is just physiological high protein in urine - for example, vaginal secretions are mixed with urine when retaining urine, and it appears 1+ after staying up late and being too tired recently, and there is no high blood pressure or abnormal kidney function, it is enough to eat high-quality protein normally, and there is no need to deliberately supplement more or completely avoid food. For a 120-pound mother, eating 1 egg, 1 box of pure milk, 2 taels of lean pork or fish and shrimp a day is completely enough.； However, if it is a pathological abnormality of urinary protein, such as urinary protein of 2+ or more caused by pregnancy-induced hypertension, or even abnormal kidney function indicators, then the protein intake must be strictly controlled. It is best to find a doctor in the clinical nutrition department to calculate the daily ration. Don't just eat a dozen eggs to supplement yourself, which may cause problems.

There are also some taboos that are easily overlooked. Many mothers will eat high-protein meal replacement powder and excessive nutritional supplements in order to recover quickly after childbirth. Some mothers are greedy for milk tea and carbonated drinks. It is best to put these away first. Added sugar and excessive non-high-quality protein will increase the metabolic burden and have little benefit in index recovery.

In the past two years, I have met more than ten mothers with high urinary protein during pregnancy and postpartum. Most of them just need to adjust their diet, and the indicators can basically return to the normal range during the 42-day postpartum review. You don’t need to be too anxious. Don’t take supplements blindly, don’t eat too salty, and don’t put extra burden on the kidneys. This is more effective than any other folk remedy.