KIDNEY DISEASES

Kidney disease and the clinical dietician

Nephrologists must work in close cooperation with clinical dieticians because the kidneys are extremely sensitive from the moment that they become diseased.

As a clinical dietician I undertake to provide nutritional support for kidney diseases in all stages.

The kidneys are responsible for many important functions such as processing and purifying the blood, filtering and expelling water and substances that the body does not need, releasing hormones, regulating water and chemical compounds in the blood such as sodium and potassium, and removing certain medicines and toxins from the blood.

Kidney disease can either be acute or chronic. The main ways to address these conditions via the diet is to improve the patient’s diet so that the body receives the proper quantities of nutrients to the extent that that is possible (proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, metals and trace elements), to slow down the spread of the disease and to balance out metabolic disorders in the patient’s body.