DaVita Inc., a leading provider of kidney care services for those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney failure, continues to prove DaVita.com and its DaVita Diet Helper® online nutrition and meal planning guide are successful ways to manage patients' nutrition intake and help improve their health and quality of life.

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DaVita Diet Helper recently registered its 6,000th user with later-stage kidney disease and the number is still growing. The online tool is an interactive resource to assist patients and allow them to create customized diet plans by providing recipes, shopping lists and nutrition tracking to help support better patient outcomes.

"We have heard from patients and dietitians that the DaVita Diet Helper is making a significant difference for dialysis patients to stay on track," said Sara Carlson, RD, CDE, DaVita nutrition specialist. One patient explains, "I am just getting started but want to thank you for this website and the help. It is terribly frustrating to try to live a busy family life and understand how to eat, lose weight -- much less maintain a low-sodium, low-potassium, low-protein diet."

Diet is an integral part of managing chronic kidney disease and ensuring patients' overall health and quality of life. Because the kidneys can no longer filter and eliminate waste products and excess fluid, kidney diets are focused on maintaining adequate nutrition and keeping minerals and electrolytes in balance. Renal dietitians work closely with individual patients to create customized diet plans based on treatment type, disease stage and related conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Debbie Benner, MA, RD, CSR, and National Director Nutrition Services at DaVita said, "We are so thrilled to be able to promote CKD nutrition in such a positive way. By providing ongoing education to other dietitians, as well as our own teammates, we're ensuring that DaVita continues to serve as a role model for American health care while providing a high level of quality of care for our patients"

DaVita and DaVita Diet Helper are registered trademarks of DaVita Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

About DaVita Inc.

DaVita Inc., a FORTUNE 500® company, is a leading provider of kidney care in the United States, providing dialysis services and education for patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. DaVita manages more than 1,300 outpatient facilities and acute units in more than 700 hospitals located in 43 states and the District of Columbia, serving approximately 107,000 patients. For more information about DaVita and its kidney education programs, please visit http://www.davita.com/.

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SOURCE: DaVita Inc.