Searches were limited to human studies on adult transplant recipients and to studies published in English. Databases searched: MeSH terms and text words for kidney transplantation were combined with MeSH terms and text words for both bone disease and dietary interventions MEDLINE

– 1966 to week 1, September 2006; EMBASE – 1980 to week 1, September 2006; the Cochrane Renal Group Specialised Register of Randomised Controlled Trials. Date of searches: 22 September 2006. There are no published studies examining the potential role of diet per se in preventing and treating bone disease in adult kidney transplant recipients. However, a systematic review of randomized controlled trials, completed in 2005 (updated in 2007) examined the effect of vitamin D and/or calcium PR-171 ic50 supplementation

on bone disease in this population.12 The meta-analysis of two randomized controlled trials (46 patients) comparing treatment with 0.5 µg/d oral calcitriol AZD9668 in vitro with no treatment revealed a significantly favourable effect on bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and the neck of femur. However, the authors of the systematic review note that clinical significance of this is uncertain due to the lack of validation in bone densitometry in chronic kidney disease.12 In a randomized controlled study (40 patients), El-Agroudy et al. showed that treatment with vitamin D (or analogue) compared with placebo is not associated with hypercalcaemia or increased plasma creatinine level.13 The results of individual randomized controlled ADP ribosylation factor trials suggest that treatment with either vitamin D, calcitonin or bisphonate alone does not

reduce fracture risk after kidney transplantation, however, the meta-analysis of all such trials combined (24 trials, 1299 patients) shows that treatment with either of these agents does reduce the risk of fracture in kidney transplant recipients.12 Palmer et al.12 conducted a meta-analysis of two randomized controlled trials, comparing treatment with both vitamin D and calcium versus no treatment on bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and femoral neck. The first trial compared treatment with 1000 mg calcium lactogluconate and 0.25 µg 1-alpha-hydroxyvitamin D with no treatment, over a 6 month period.14 The second trial compared treatment with 3000 mg calcium carbonate and 40 µg 25-hydroxvitamin D3 with no treatment, over a 12 month period.15 The meta-analysis of the results shows a significant difference between treatment and placebo groups favouring active treatment. Torres et al.16 in a randomized controlled study (86 patients) showed that treatment with vitamin D (0.5 µg calcitriol alternate days) and calcium (1.5 g/d calcium lactogluconate) does not increase the risk of hypercalcaemia nor increase plasma creatinine level compared with treatment with calcium alone. In their meta-analysis, Palmer et al.