Association between dietary intake of flavonoid and chronic kidney disease in US adults: Evidence from NHANES 2007-2008, 2009-2010, and 2017-2018

by Peijia Liu, Wujian Peng, Feng Hu, Guixia Li

Studies investigating the relationship between flavonoid intake and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are limited. This study investigated the association between daily flavonoid intake and CKD in US adults by using data for 2007–2008, 2009–2010, and 2017–2018 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database.

This study employed a cross-sectional design and used data from three cycles of the continuous NHANES: 2007–2008, 2009–2010, and 2017–2018. NHANES researchers collected data related to consumption of various food and beverages from participants by employing 24-h dietary recall questionnaires. CKD is defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate of < 60 mL/min/1.73m² or a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio of ≥ 30 mg/g.

The odds ratios (OR) for CKD risk in the second (Q2), third (Q3), and fourth (Q4) quartiles of total flavonoid intake, compared with that in the first (Q1) quartile, were 0.780 (95% CI: 0.600, 1.015), 0.741 (95% CI: 0.573, 0.957), and 0.716 (95% CI: 0.554, 0.925), respectively (with a P value for the trend of 0.040). According to the restricted cubic spline analysis, total flavonoid intake exhibited a non-linear relationship with CKD risk (P < 0.001).

Our findings suggest that a potential J-shaped relationship was observed between total flavonoid consumption and CKD risk, with an inflection point at 69.58 mg/d. Our study indicates that a moderate intake of flavonoids may confer renal benefits which may offer novel strategies for CKD treatment.