Help on dieting for kidney patients

People suffering from renal diseases often do not know what they should eat and how much.
To help renal patients make the right choices, a team from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has come up with an interactive programme for diet management.
Called “Diet Quest for Renal”, the programme has been developed by Dr K. Tilakavati, Dr Winnie Chee and Ruzana Abdullah.
It is designed to help a patient match his height, weight and Body Mass Index with his energy, protein and carbohydrate needs.
In addition, it enables the patient to plan his meals and balance choices from the various food groups.
Dr Tilakavati said the software would help patients achieve an ideal weight, noting that most of them had poor appetite as the disease progressed.
“A normal person only has to worry about calories and exercising but a renal patient has to manage about six to eight aspects,” she said at the launch of the programme at Hospital Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
She also said the software would help ease the pressure on renal dieticians as there was a shortage of them in the country.
“The dietician can print out the analysis of the patient's diet and with the help of graphics, he can show the patient how much to eat,” she said.
The team started their research in 2001 with a RM100,000 grant from Janssen-Cilag.
“However, due to the high production cost, the software will only be available to the nephrology community and dieticians,” Dr Tilakavati said.
For details, contact Dr Tilakavati at tilly@medic.ukm.my
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