Kidney Disease Facts

The National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse estimates that each year, nearly 100,000 Americans are newly diagnosed with kidney failure. More than 100,000 currently have ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease requiring dialysis) due to diabetes.

According to the U.S. Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an estimated 650,000 Americans will have kidney failure by 2010 and will require renal replacement therapy, either ongoing renal dialysis or a kidney transplant. Without one of these therapies, ESRD is fatal.

• According to the ADA, diabetes is the leading cause of ESRD, which develops slowly, over years, and is often silent. The kidney’s tiny nephrons, which act as filters to remove wastes, chemicals, and excess water from the blood, become damaged by chronic high blood sugars.
• According to the National Kidney Foundation, new evidence suggests that the incidence of irreversible kidney failure may be about the same for both type 1’s and type 2’s.
• Approximately 43 percent of new cases of ESRD are attributed to diabetes, double in the past 20 years.
• In 2000, 41,046 people with diabetes initiated treatment for end-stage renal disease, and 129,183 people with diabetes underwent dialysis or kidney transplantation.
• Although diet, exercise, and medications help control blood glucose, diabetes often leads to nephropathy and kidney failure.
• American minorities are more likely to suffer from diabetes and kidney failure. The incidence of reported ESRD in people with diabetes is more than four times as high in African Americans, four to six times as high in Mexican Americans, and six times as high in Native Americans than in the general population of diabetes patients.
• About 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Type 2's are either insulin resistant or produce insufficient insulin, and 80 percent or more are overweight. The American Obesity Association notes that obesity may be a direct or indirect factor in the initiation or progression of renal disease.
• Between 1993 and 1997, more than 100,000 people in the United States were treated for kidney failure caused by type 2 diabetes.
• People with type 2 diabetes are not diagnosed, on average, for five to six years after getting the disease, and by that time damage has often occurred -- damage to the tiny capillaries in the eyes, the nerves in the foot, and the vulnerable nephrons in the kidneys.

Keeping your kidneys healthy

In Chinese medicine, the kidneys are the seat of longevity and health. This is not surprising, considering the kidneys' responsibility. The urinary tract is an elaborate filtration system—the kidneys alone contain about a million tiny filters that remove waste products from the blood. When your kidneys are working well, this refuse is diluted in a watery bath to make it less toxic to the body, then sent to the bladder, which serves as a holding tank, keeping this waste until the body discards it as urine.

Filtering wastes from the body is an essential job, but your kidneys perform an amazing assortment of other tasks as well. For example, they recycle important nutrients like glucose and amino acids out of the urine and back into the blood. They also control your blood pressure and the balance of electrolytes—-important minerals such as potassium and sodium--in your body. Your kidneys are also responsible for telling the body when more red blood cells need to be produced.

Because the kidneys have so many jobs to do, many seemingly unrelated disorders and symptoms can be traced back to these organs. These include water retention, poor circulation, anemia, electrolyte imbalance and high blood pressure. Even a puffy face, dark circles under the eyes, a pale complexion, dizziness or tension can indicate kidney problems.

What causes your kidney problems in the first place? The urinary tract is the unfortunate victim of modern civilization—while the liver pulls toxins out of the blood, the kidneys eliminate toxins through the bladder. So the kidneys are responsible for eliminating the toxins we inhale and ingest. Solvents, gasoline, paint, synthetic fragrances and colors, preservatives and even the nitrogen waste that results from a high-protein diet put stress on the kidneys. In addition, infections anywhere in your body—even tooth decay—contribute to kidney problems.

Tips for maintaining kidney and urinary tract health:

• Choose foods that are low in fat and sugar
• Choose and prepare foods that are low in salt
• Choose a high fiber, low fat diet of unprocessed foods
• Avoid Coffee, black tea, alcohol
• Lose excess weight and keep it off
• Adopt a daily rigorous exercise regimen
• Daily Deep breathing
• Do Yoga

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More Herbs and foods associated with kidney support

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