THE RELATION OF ALBUMINURIA TO PROTEIN REQUIREMENT IN NEPHRITIS

Abstract

The proper composition of nephritic diets has been a continuous source of controversy. Since it was first demonstrated that certain patients with renal disease retained nitrogenous waste products, it has become general practice to restrict the protein of the diet in all cases of nephritis. This tendency received a further impetus from the misconception that urea and other protein metabolites that accumulated in the blood of persons with impairment of kidney function were themselves responsible for some of the symptoms of uremia. The general burden of evidence goes to prove that this is not the case and that urea concentrations quite as great as those encountered in the blood of some patients with nephritis are incapable of producing anything resembling the uremic syndrome. An extended investigation of the nonprotein nitrogenous constituents of the blood in nephritis has also revealed the fact that retention of these waste products may be, and