Sunday, September 16, 2012

Does a high protein diet plan cause kidney damage?

By William Curtis


Following a high protein diet plan can help with hunger, weight loss, blood glucose levels control, etc. Therefore, the common query I get..."Doesn't eating a High Protein Diet cause kidney damage?" The short solution is NO. Let's study a little. The kidney's in general carry out a filtration service for the body. Blood flows throughout the kidney and toxins and metabolism waste materials are processed out into the urogenital system for excretion via the bladder. Waste laden blood in, concentrated waste laden urine out....beautiful system.

During this normal filtration, the kidneys have to filter out waste but "Keep" beneficial nutrients, blood cells, and serum proteins. Obviously, a primary job also consists of conserving fluid/water too. An early sign of kidney damage is microalbuminuria or leakage of the protein called albumin into the urine. This is similar to a fishing net which has a hole. The fish or albumin slips through the faulty net. Now the myth that a "High Protein Diet Plan" will hurt the kidney is due to the aforementioned basic information. The idea is without question that if you have a unusually high circulation of protein in your blood, then your kidneys will need to work extra hard to keep up.

This is only partially true. The only situation where limiting excessive protein makes sense however is in patients with SEVERE kidney damage or dialysis. (A lesser amount of an issue in dialysis since the kidneys are already very damaged and leak tremendous levels of protein into the urine....a sure sign that the filtration element of the kidney is badly damaged. ) Pursuing the fishing analogy, if the net ain't ripped, catching more fish isn't a problem.

For the remainder of us without evidence of kidney damage, please understand that there is absolutely no EVIDENCE that following a "High Protein Diet" will in any way damage the kidneys. The best as I can tell, this urban myth stems from an inappropriate extrapolation from the physiology and pathology issues I discussed above.

This means is that a high protein diet for weight loss is one of the best ways to boost your health with no risk of damaging your kidneys. By cutting back on carbs and making sure you consume adequate amounts of protein and fat daily you can greatly increase your chances for weight loss and energy improvement success while decreasing your risk of becoming sick from diabetes, cancer or heart disease.




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