Dry fruits have a lot of importance in Indian cousins for their flavors, nutrition, and for its richness. But dry fruits are not always good for everyone! One of the categories is kidney patients. No, dry fruits are not good for kidney patients as most of them contain a lot of potassium in them.

List of Indian dry fruits:

1. Cashews (Kaju)
2. Almonds ( badam)
3. Dry fig. ( anjeer)
4. Raisins (kismish)
5. Macadamia nut
6. Betel nut (supari)
7. Pista.
8. Dates. (khajoor)
9. Walnuts. (akhrot)
10. Foxnuts. (Makhana)
11. Apricot (khubani)

Dry fruits to eat and avoid in the Indian diet for kidney diseases.

Cashews, apricots, walnuts, almonds should be strictly avoided.

Betel nuts: most of the Indian people chew supari. This nut is very harmful to kidney disorders. It contains potassium ranging between 350-500mg with a medium quantity intake. These nuts should be avoided in people with any predisposing factors for kidney disease.

Dates: khajoor is a very dear dry fruit everywhere. But again should be avoided in kidney illness. Higher potassium and sugars make it unfit for consumption in kidney disorders.

Macadamia: this is quite a rare nut that is present in India. It is cultivated in some parts of south India like in Kerala. Quite costly to buy but can be a preferable dry fruit for kidney patients. It has a considerably low potassium content ranging between 100 to 130mg.

Raisins: 100 to 150g of raisins contain 600 to 900mg of potassium. Which is bad for a diseased kidney. Avoid raisins as far as possible.

Foxnuts: they are the lotus seeds used in various Indian dishes. It is also used as a snack. The high potassium content of about 300-400mg makes it non-ideal for consumption in kidney patients.

Why should a kidney patient avoid dry fruits? And why is it bad?

• Dry fruits contain a large amount of potassium in them.
• They are heavy to digest and in turn, put a strain on the kidney for their clearance.
• The potassium content in medium dry fruit consumption ranges from 220mg like in cashews to 800mg like in apricots. This puts a load on an already fatigued kidney.
• Excessive fructose or sugars are present in the dry fruits which can lead to secondary complications as kidney illness is a harnessing factor for other pathologies.
• If the dried fruits are used in extremely limited proportion and within the proper time interval, it may not be too harmful.
• The calories are more than what the affected kidney can withstand.
• Phosphorus, magnesium, iron is present in abundance.
• Dry fruits can lead to mal kidney functioning and lead to chronic kidney failure in long-term observations.
• A suspect of kidney illness or a patient who is susceptible to a kidney disease like alcoholics should avoid the intake of dry fruits to further reduce the chances of developing kidney disorders.

Better ways of using dry fruits.

• Soak the raisins, almonds, cashews for 7-9 hours before consuming.
• Peeling of the cover of dry fruit takes off a considerable amount of unwanted potassium and protein.
• Limiting the consumption.