Dietary Potassium Liberalization in Pre-Dialysis Patients

The kidney is a primary site of potassium regulation in the body. Hyperkalemia, elevated serum potassium, occurs in approximately 10% of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is associated with elevated all-cause mortality. To minimize the risk of hyperkalemia, individuals with CKD are told to restrict dietary potassium. This recommendation is based on very-low quality evidence. Dietary potassium restrictions can negatively impact quality of life, and may put participants at risk of nutritional deficiencies so they should be based on good quality evidence. There is a need for high quality randomized controlled trials investigating the impact of dietary potassium modification on serum potassium concentrations in people with CKD. This trial will evaluate the impact and safety of dietary potassium liberalization using fruit and vegetables on serum potassium concentrations in people with CKD. In this 16-week study, the investigators will test if changing the amount of potassium people with CKD are eating with fruits and vegetables changes the amount of potassium in their blood. The investigators will do this by providing people with fruits and vegetables that are either high or low in potassium for a period of 6 weeks. Then these same participants will be provided with fruits and vegetables that they didn't receive in the first 6 weeks, for an additional 6 weeks in what is called a randomized crossover design. In a randomized crossover design everyone gets both treatments, but the order they get them in is chosen at random, like a coin toss. Thirty participants will be recruited to this study. The investigators will measure blood potassium during the study and see if it changes due to the change in potassium in the fruit and vegetables provided. The investigators think that changing the amount of potassium that participants eat through fruit and vegetables will not lead to a different level of potassium in the participants blood, and that having higher potassium fruit and vegetables in the diet may lead to an increase in the participants quality of life. This study's results could change the dietary recommendation given to people living CKD and potentially allow them to eat a greater variety of food.