March-April 2026: The Kidneys
Our hardest working organs in the body. They work silently, 24 hours a day for decades, without causing any trouble. When kidney's get into trouble, it usually is the result of other diseases like adult diabetes, high blood pressure, vascular disease, and inflammatory diseases.
WHY TWO KIDNEYS ?
Evolution sometimes provides two organs, if the organ is critical to survival. If necessary, we can get by with only one kidney, but two, provides more resilience in case a kidney is faulty, or injured.
Weighing in at only 5 ounces each, the two kidneys can filter about 50 gallons of blood daily.
The filtration process separates waste, from nutrients that are retained for bodily functions, sending the waste away as urine.
BASIC KIDNEY 101a
Each kidney consists of about oñe million furation units called
"nephrons". Within these tiny filters are the actual work horses called
"glomeruli" that will separate waste, from other necessary body fluids, to be retained. Keep the name glomeruli in mind because, it's a very important blood test health marker, called GFR, for golmeruli filtration rate.
Besides filtering the blood, kidneys produce hormones that help control blood pressure.
EARLY DETECTION OF KIDNEY
PROBLEMS
We can help our doctors detect kidney problems by being alert to these symptoms:
• Persistent fatigue.
Unexplained swelling around the ankle, legs, and face.
• Abnormal looking urine.
Usually dark, or foamy urine.
PROBLEM NUMBER ONE is high blood pressure. Extra pressure on blood flowing through kidneys scars the tiny nephrons, reducing their effectiveness. When nephrons are healthy, almost no blood protein makes it into your urine. However, when these tiny filtration units become damaged. from high blood pressure, adult diabetes, and other diseases, they start to leak, allowing proteins into the urine. Protein in the urine isn't only a marker of kidney failure, but usually creates a series of conditions like inflammatory response, and oxidative stress, which affects the entire body. The ACR blood test can detect these problems. See page 2.
KEEPING KIDNEYS HEALTHY
Hydrate often. Water is best.
Avoid sodas, both sweetened and unsweetened.
Reduce processed foods.
Avoid excessive animal protein at one sitting.
Maintain a healthy weight.
Keep salt close to 1500 mg, or less, per day.
PREVENTING KIDNEY DISEASE
The major drivers of kidney disease fall into five conditions:
ADULT DIABETES creates high blood sugar in the kidneys which damages the tiny glomeruli filtration units. Pre-diabetic conditions also increase the potential for kidney damage.
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
damages the kidney filtration units leading to a loss of normal filtration efficiency.
VASCULAR AND HEART DISEASE narrows the kidney arteries, reducing oxygen supplies to the kidneys and increasing kidney strain.
INFLAMMATORY DISEASES such as lupus, vasculitis, kidney inflammation (LgAN), and inflammation of kidney filtering units.
LONG TERM OBESITY leads to increased kidney filtration pressure and kidney damage.
TRACKING KIDNEY PROBLEMS
Tests for kidney problems:
GFR - Glomular filtration rate
Normal Rate - 70-110 Keep these numbers high
Serum Creatine - Waste from muscle metabolism
Rate for men 0.6 to 1.2
Rate for women 0.5 to 1.1
uACR- Urine Albumen Creatine Ratio.
Amount of creatine and albumen (protein) in urine
Normal is less than 30
KFRE - Kidney Failure Risk Equations
Doctors evaluation of kidney failure in the next two years
BOOST YOUR KIDNEY HEALTH
One of the best things we can do to reduce the burden of modern nutrition on kidney health is to tightly control our sugar intake. That includes fruit juices, sodas, desserts, and snacks.
Sugar molecules attach themselves to proteins in the blood, resulting in Advanced Glycation End-products, a sludge toxic to kidney filtration units.
This could cause the release of protein into the urine. If the ACR test shows high protein in the urine, the kidneys could have been damaged.
Avoid prolonged use of prescription drugs, and over the counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), such as Bactrim for UTI and other infections, and also, ibuprofen and acid reflux tablets. Over use of medications can harm kidneys.
Make sure your health professionals know all the medications you are taking and how often.
DRINKS FOR KIDNEYS
There is insufficient room in this bulletin to cover all dietary restrictions and support for healthy kidneys.
Instead, Mark Hyman, MD, has provided a list of drinks to cleanse the kidneys:
1. Pure water
2. Lemon water
3. Cranberry juice 4. Green tea
5. Dandelion tea
6. Beet juice
7. Ginger tea
8. Turmeric tea
Important reminder. Our healthy aging bulletins are published six times a year.
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Have a great Spring!
Roger and Arlene
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