The main job of the kidneys is to remove waste from the blood and return clean blood to the body. When you have kidney disease or failure, your kidneys are no longer functioning as well as they can.

What Causes Kidney Failure?

The common cause of kidney failure is chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure that is not properly controlled. Acute kidney failure (sudden loss of function) could be due to sudden loss of blood as a result of an injury, infection in the kidney and obstruction of the urine flow.

How To Help Prevent Kidney Failure

In order to prevent chronic kidney failure, it is crucial that you change your lifestyle with the right diet and habits. This is to protect your kidneys and control other diseases related to kidney failure.

1. Balance Salt, Fluids And Electrolytes

Healthy kidneys remove waste, balance water content and electrolyte levels in the body. The main electrolytes are potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Kidney failure leads to an increase in potassium and phosphorus levels. High potassium levels cause an irregular heartbeat, and high phosphorus levels cause calcium to leak out from the bones, resulting in osteoporosis.

Limit fluids: Too much fluid burdens the kidneys to get rid of the excess fluid. It is not just the liquid you drink but also the food you eat. Be aware of the foods that are high in fluid, such as soups, juicy fruits and vegetables.

Potassium, phosphorus and calcium: Supplementing calcium and vitamin D is important in preventing calcium loss in the bone. Limit food that is high in phosphorus, such as milk, beans, nuts, poultry, whole grains, eggs and fish. Foods that are high in potassium are banana, apricot, kiwi, melon, sweet potato and spinach.

Limit salt: Salty food makes us thirsty, so we drink more water and, therefore, the body retains more water leading to high blood pressure, which affects the kidney and heart. Beware of salt substitutes that are high in potassium.

2. Nutrients To Monitor

Protein: Too much protein burdens the kidneys to get rid of the end product of protein metabolism. But you must also take enough protein with essential amino acids to prevent the body from breaking down muscle.

Carbohydrates: Most kidney failure is due to poorly controlled diabetes. Hence, managing the control of blood sugar with complex carbohydrates from fruit, vegetables, brown rice, and sweet potato is important.

Fats: Good fats from olive oil, walnut oil and salmon contain Omega-3 fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory.

3. Avoid Fast Food, Trans Fat And Processed Food

Fast food and processed food are high in salt, saturated fats and trans fats. They raise bad cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease. Food that has high levels of salt must be avoided.


4. Lose Weight

When you are overweight or obese, fat tissues surround the kidneys and liver. This puts pressure and burden on the kidneys, which affects their proper function. The link between fat and kidney failure was reported by Gunter Wolf from the University of Hamburg in the Journal of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation in 2003. So, it is critical that you lose the fat to reduce the burden on the kidneys.

5. Stop Smoking, Avoid Alcohol And Drugs

Alcohol damages kidney cells further, and increases urinary output causing dehydration, which disrupts the hormones that govern kidney functions. Smoking is one of the causes of high blood pressure, which in turn affects the kidneys.

Long-term use of NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) leads to kidney failure. They are toxins, which the body has to work hard to get rid of.

6. Antioxidants

Antioxidants are protective nutrients that have been investigated for their potential to help with treating kidney disease, as reported by David Warnock at the University of Alabama in The New England Journal of Medicine, June 2011.

Kidney-friendly foods that are high in antioxidants include berries, garlic, apples, cabbage and broccoli. Anti-inflammatory food, such as olive oil and walnut oil are high in Omega-3 and also play an important role in protecting the kidneys.

When the kidneys fail completely, renal dialysis or a kidney transplant are the only options available. It is, therefore, important that you manage your health.

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