We all know that the kidneys serve to produce urine. But, do they do more?
Today, I want to talk to you about this organ because it’s very important.
The area of study of the kidney is called nephrology because the kidney is made of nephrons.
What are the kidneys and how do they work?
The kidneys are 2 bean-shaped organs about the size of a fist, more or less. They are just below the ribs, one on each side of the spine. They are part of the urinary system, and each one is connected to the bladder through a duct (tube) called the ureter. If we could see a kidney cut from top to bottom, we would see that it is divided into the cortex (the outer layer) and the medulla (the part surrounding the cortex).
The kidneys receive blood through the renal artery. This blood is filtered in the nephrons, structures formed by a filter of very small blood vessels (glomerulus) and a tube (tubule). There are between 800,000 and a million nephrons in each kidney.
Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH of EEUU).
The kidneys control water, minerals and proteins, among other substances and decide what stays in the blood and what should be expelled. At the end of the tubule, urine is ready to travel through the ureters to the bladder.
So, the main function of these organs is to get rid of waste and excess fluid from our body.
But they do many more things:
- Regulate the pH of the blood, or in other words, the acid-base balance. I always say that there are no foods that make our blood more or less acidic. Well, that’s one of the jobs of your kidneys.
- Maintain the balance of water, salts, and minerals in the blood (sodium, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium).
- Produce hormones. Some examples are erythropoietin, which is involved in the formation of red blood cells, and renin, which regulates blood pressure.
- Control blood pressure (as we mentioned before, by regulating water, salt and mineral levels in the blood).
- Remove metabolism by-products such as proteins (urea, creatinine…) or uric acid.
- Get rid of by-products derived from drugs or medications.
Some of the diseases or issues that the kidney can suffer from include cancer, infections, and the formation of stones or cysts. Certain medications, diabetes, and high blood pressure can also hurt them.
When a disorder affects the nephrons, the kidney cannot perform its functions properly, and if it persists over time, it can become a chronic disease.
When the kidney is unable to work well, we talk about renal failure, which can be acute (for a short period) or chronic (lifelong). In these cases, treatment with dialysis or a transplant may be necessary.
Unfortunately, one of my grandparents had to experience this, so I would like to explain what dialysis is.
It is a treatment that involves filtering the blood to remove waste and excess water that the kidney would normally eliminate.
There are two types of processes:
Hemodialysis
The blood passes through a machine. Your arm is connected to the machine via a vein so that unfiltered blood enters. The machine does its work, and the filtered blood re-enters the arm through another vein.
Excuse my language, but it’s a pain in the ***. Because in each session, you have to be “plugged into the machine” for about 4 hours, and you have to attend about 3 sessions per week.
Moreover, it’s like the kidneys are working overtime. Imagine that the machine does in 4 hours the work that the kidneys do in 24.
So, this treatment causes side effects due to abrupt changes in blood pressure and fluid volume in the body. For example: dizziness, nausea, headaches, muscle cramps… It’s not a long-term treatment and carries quite a few risks.
Peritoneal dialysis:
Instead of the machine, the peritoneum, a membrane lining the abdomen, is used as a filter. This way, the blood stays inside our body. A catheter is placed in the abdomen, in the belly, and through it, a fluid (dialysis solution) is introduced to help the peritoneum filter waste and excess water. You can find more information about this process in the references.
Let’s talk about the important part: How do we take care of our kidneys?
To have healthy kidneys you don’t have to do anything special. As always, the key is to have a healthy lifestyle. The same we would do to avoid diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure:
- Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes and wholegrain foods.
- Don’t eat too much salt or salted food(ultra-processed foods, salted snacks like crisps, some types of cheese, cold meat…).
- Drink enough water.
- Do physical exercise regularly.
- Sleep enough hours,
- Mind our mental health (stress, anxiety…. cause our blood pressure to rise).
- Don’t smoke.
- Don’t drink alcohol or avoid it as much as possible.
- Be careful with medications. If we have kidney problems already, ask our doctor what medicines can be harmful to our kidneys.
References:
https://www.nefrologiaaldia.org/es-articulo-fisiologia-renal-335
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/kidneys-how-they-work
https://www.mayoclinic.org/es-es/tests-procedures/hemodialysis/about/pac-20384824
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/kidney-failure/hemodialysis
https://fundacionrenal.com/contenido/hemodialisis-y-dialisis-peritoneal-2/?cn-reloaded=1
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000707.htm
Images:
<a href=”https://www.freepik.es/vector-gratis/cartel-anatomia-organos-realistas-rinon_29875081.htm#query=renal&position=27&from_view=keyword&track=sph”>Imagen de gstudioimagen1</a> en Freepik
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dialysis_-_arm_-_01.jpg
