Demystifying Kidney Disease for the Average Joe!

This is a question that often comes up when I see patients in my office for treatment of chronic kidney disease ( CKD ). As always, I tend to emphasize the huge role that diet plays in the management of CKD. I noticed that my recent posts might be becoming too wordy, so I am going to keep myself very brief today!

BACKGROUND It is estimated that more than 20 million Americans may have chronic kidney disease (CKD). That means roughly 1 in 15 Americans. Subjectively speaking, and for some reason, the rate seems to be even higher where I practice (Bradenton / Sarasota, Florida), but that could be related to the older aged population here. Whether you could "cure" CKD would depend on the cause of kidney disease . Quite often, the cause happens to be a chronic disease that can only be "controlled" (like diabetes or hypertension), but not technically cured. And so is the case with CKD. That is, you can usually not cure and get rid of CKD, but you should be able to control the worsening of your CKD and prevent the fall in your GFR.  I have discussed in my previous posts about how physicians measure your kidneys' function and the concept of GFR. You may want to take a look at the picture of the " GFR meter " again wherein I had mentioned that the needl...

Most of us, even the fitness freaks, feel good about consuming diet soda...that harmless, calorie-free, sugar-free indulgence. What could ever be wrong about a can of zero calorie, carbonated, flavored water?! Possibly a lot, it seems. The potential for harm stems from the various ingredients that go in to conjuring your favorite diet soft drink. Lets break down a typical artificially sweetened beverage (diet soda) in to its bare ingredients that are pertinent for this discussion : artificial sweeteners, caffeine, caramel color, and phosphoric acid.