The health of our body and kidneys is interconnected. Healthy kidneys are essential for a healthy body. Similarly, kidneys need a healthy body to perform at their best. A decline in kidney function directly affects the whole body, leading to chronic disease of the heart, brain, bone, and blood vessels. As per World Health Organization, kidney disease indirectly impacts global morbidity and mortality by increasing the risk associated with at least five other major killers: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, HIV infection, and malaria.
What can we do to keep our kidneys healthy? Well, it is not possible to inject healing nectar directly into the kidneys, so we are only left with the option of keeping our bodies healthy, giving kidneys a healthy habitat where they can serve the body without being overwhelmed or hurt.
Keep Your Diet in Check
The kidneys’ most crucial function is washing out waste products in the blood, which can be best performed if the kidneys get enough blood supply. Drinking two to 2.5 litres of water daily ensures a level of perfusion to the kidneys. Keep an eye on your urine and ensure it is clear and pale yellow like juice sacks of a lemon peel. Patients with heart failure should consult their physician before increasing their water intake, as it may harm them.
The next best thing to unburden your kidneys is eating less salt. If you eliminate processed foods from your diet, you can reduce salt, added sugars, and many other substances in your food in a single stroke.
Poorly controlled blood pressure directly damages blood vessels in the kidney, gradually leading to irreversible loss of kidney function.
Increase whole grains in your diet and remove highly refined grains. Gradually replace the portions of red meat and highly refined carbohydrates with fresh fruits and vegetables.
In the later stages of kidney disease, foods rich in sodium, potassium, and phosphorus must be completely dropped.
Keep Your Vitals in Check
High blood pressure and diabetes together are responsible for almost seventy per cent of cases of kidney disease. Controlling these two conditions alone can significantly reduce the burden of kidney disease on Earth. Uncontrolled diabetes with high blood sugar levels directly affects the filtration units of kidneys, where it makes structural changes in the walls of these units, making them leaky to proteins. This leaking of proteins from the kidneys into the urine has both diagnostic, as well as prognostic, values. While protein in the urine suggests a problem with the kidney, on the one hand, it can also predict how quickly kidneys will lose function in the future.
Likewise, poorly controlled blood pressure directly damages blood vessels in the kidney, gradually leading to irreversible loss of kidney function.
If you have any of these two conditions-hypertension and diabetes-you can help your kidneys by controlling your blood pressure and blood sugar.
Smoking
Quit smoking. Smoking damages the blood vessels of the kidney, just as it does the blood vessels of the heart and the brain. Even second-hand smoke is said to increase the risk of chronic kidney disease.
Keep the Weight in Check
Our understanding of obesity is changing radically. Until now, we believed obesity to be a disease. We were wrong all along. Obesity is a symptom of a metabolic derangement called Insulin Resistance. Just as insulin resistance is associated with obesity, it also increases the risk of hypertension and diabetes. And as we know, hypertension and diabetes are risk factors for kidney damage. Besides being part of the metabolic syndrome, obesity damages the kidney, as shown by some observational studies, by releasing toxins and metabolites into the bloodstream. You can best fight off metabolic syndrome by adding 30 to 40 minutes of exercise to your daily routine. A brisk walk is the most practical method to achieve this goal, acceptable to all ages and genders equally across the globe. It is hard to find an excuse not to walk except for sheer stubbornness.
Keep your medicines in check
Take only prescription medications advised by your doctor. For over-the-counter products, do consult your doctor before using them. Avoid products sold by herbalists and homoeopathic, for they contain unknown chemicals and even heavy metals, components that can deposit in the kidneys and damage the tissue. Similarly, certain over-the-counter painkillers directly hurt the kidneys and impair their function.
Above, we have discussed simple precautions that one can use in one’s daily life to keep their kidneys healthy. However, it is crucial for kidney disease patients to stay in touch with a nephrologist or kidney disease specialist.
The writer is an Internist and Nephrologist. He has won Top Internist Award in 2021 and Top Nephrologist Award in 2022 from Michigan, USA. He can be reached on Twitter @awaiszaka.