The Effect of Feeding Protein and Urea on the Renal Concentrating Process 1

The role of dietary protein in the treatment of renal disease remains a controversial one, in part because the influence of diets high or low in pro- tein upon normal renal function is not completely understood. In the rat much evidence has accumulated that high-protein intakes lead to renal hypertrophy (1-3) and that low-protein diets may be associated with impairment of some renal func- tions (4). Pullman, Alving, Dern, and Landowne (5) have recently reviewed this subject and demonstrated that in normal men a high-protein diet slightly increases and a low-protein diet slightly depresses glomerular filtration rate, renal plasma flow and TmPAH.