Meat Additives Could Harm Kidney Patients

[okarol]

Meat Additives Could Harm Kidney Patients

By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: July 24, 2009
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.  Earn CME/CE credit
for reading medical news
 
LITTLE FALLS, N.J., July 24 -- Uncooked meat and poultry products enhanced with phosphate salts may contain excessive amounts of phosphorus and potassium that could affect patients with kidney disease, researchers say.
Action Points 
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■Explain that meat and poultry products with added phosphate salts had a phosphate-to-protein ratio that was 28% higher than products with no additives.



■Note that the additives could make it hard for patients with kidney disease to limit their daily phosphorus and potassium intake.
Meats with additives had an average phosphate-to-protein ratio 28% higher than products with no additives, Richard A. Sherman, MD, and Ojas Mehta, MD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, reported online in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.


The additives could make it difficult for patients with kidney disease to limit dietary phosphorus and potassium intake, the researchers said.


"The burden imposed on those who seek to limit dietary phosphorus and potassium could be ameliorated by more complete food labeling by manufacturers," they said.


Controlling dietary phosphorus intake is a challenge for dialysis patients who have to be wary of hyperphosphatemia because meat and poultry enhanced with phosphate salts are not always labeled as such.


While 11 different phosphate salts are currently approved for use in meat and poultry (six are sodium salts and five are potassium salts), there's no requirement that this information be displayed on nutrition labels.


So the researchers measured the phosphorus, potassium, and protein content of 36 uncooked meat and poultry products purchased at supermarkets.


They found that products that reported using additives had an average phosphate-to-protein ratio that was 28.4% higher than additive-free products. In fact, the content ranged up to almost 100% higher.


Potassium content ranged widely, but averaged 8.7% higher than regular products. And while additive-free products contained fewer than 387 mg per 100 g of protein, five of the 25 products with additives contained at least 692 mg/100g.


The researchers say the findings draw attention to potassium additives, which have not received as much attention as added sodium and phosphorus in processed foods.


In some cases, the added amount of potassium is "striking," the researchers said.


One sample had 930 mg per 100 g of protein, a level "three-fold higher than a similar product," they said.


"Thus, a 200-g portion would contain almost 2 g of potassium, most of a dialysis patient's daily restricted intake."


That could put dialysis patients at increased risk of for developing hyperkalemia, and its origin "would very likely be unrecognized," the researchers said. "More attention to [added] potassium is warranted."


Most, but not all foods with phosphate and potassium additives reported their content on product labeling, with 16 of 25 listing the specific additives.


The impact of enhancing meat and poultry products with phosphate salts is likely to be clinically significant, the researchers said, as it may affect phosphate-binding requirements.


Phosphates not removed by dialysis must be removed by binders, thus increasing binder requirements, they said.


They concluded that food-processing companies need to disclose the type and amount of additives in meat and poultry products.



The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.
 

Primary source: Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
Source reference:
Sherman RA, Mehta O "Phosphorus and potassium content of enhanced met and poultry products: Implications for patients who receive dialysis" Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2009; DOI: 10.2215/CJN.02830409.
 
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/15238

[Romona]

It is scary that the information isn't always listed.

[Zach]

From the actual report:

"For purposes of this investigation, we considered a meat or poultry
product to be enhanced when this word was used on the package
labeling (n=8) or when this word was omitted but other terms
suggesting the presence of food additives were noted on the label (n=
17), such as “cured,” “contains solution,” and “natural flavorings.” We
termed other meat and poultry products with no evidence indicating
the presence of food additives as a “regular” (or additive-free) item
(n=11)."

There's a list of the products tested at
http://cjasn.asnjournals.org/cgi/rapidpdf/CJN.02830409v1.pdf


So the lesson is to avoid raw meat and poultry that has on the label “enhanced,” “cured,” “contains solution,” and “natural flavorings.”

[Chris]

I already knew SPAM was bad though 

In seriousness though, I would hope people knew what cured meant from history lessens. Which in essence was meat covered in salt/brine to preserve the meat during voyages.

Usually something in a can seems salty tasting cmpared to fresh meats, but when it comes to convience, society seems to go for something easy to make?

[Zach]

But this particular article is about fresh meats that one may think has no processing.
It's all about reading the label.

[okarol]

There's a list of the products tested at
http://cjasn.asnjournals.org/cgi/rapidpdf/CJN.02830409v1.pdf


So the lesson is to avoid raw meat and poultry that has on the label “enhanced,” “cured,” “contains solution,” and “natural flavorings.”

Thanks Zach - that makes sense! 

[KT0930]

One product I found is quite difficult to find unenhanced is pork tenderloin. If you shop at Kroger, their "Moist & Tender" brand always has additives, though I don't know with what. Like Zach said, read labels carefully!

Though they're more expensive, Publix' pork is generally ok.

[Chris]

But this particular article is about fresh meats that one may think has no processing.
It's all about reading the label.

When I read it here, it sounds like they are not talking about fresh meat. With the word product used instead of fresh meat, butcher shop, meat market, or in the case of fruit, produce, the word product seems to signify something made. Product was a term never used for fresh meat in the grocery stores I worked at when I was younger.

[dwcrawford]

I am still confused. 

First, I'm not giving up SPAM as it is my traditional Thanksgiving Dinner dish.

And seriously:  What are we to do?  I think we need a specialty food stored designed with Renal foods on one side and diabetic foods on the other side.  In the middle should be an aisle for items that are acceptable for both.  Or else, we all need to have our own personal Zach...  Wanna clone  him?

[Zach]

 Or else, we all need to have our own personal Zach...  Wanna clone  him?

One with a working kidney!     

[Bill Peckham]

At my grocery store there are people to ask in their meat department. Even when the meat is sold prepackaged there is still a butcher in back somewhere.

The people I talked to are only too willing to point out the meat that is natural vs the meat that is enhanced. They did not seem to think much of the enhanced meat.

It is very frustrating for someone who makes an effort to cook healthy food to find out they have been sabotaged by their meat department. The other thing for people with functioning kidneys to know is that this enhancement is usually done by injecting water that contains the potassium - so you're not only getting the chemicals you are also paying the per pound meat price for water.