Be Good To Your Kidneys!

My Weekly’s favourite GP from TV and radio writes for you.

- Dr Sarah Jarvis

Forget trendy detox diets. Your kidneys are hard at work 24 hours a day filtering out waste and toxins. Along with your liver, they’re inbuilt detox machines. But as you get older, it’s natural for your kidneys to be less efficient. They need a little care to help them look after you.

Along with getting rid of products made by your body that you no longer need, your kidneys keep the level of salts in your body stable. If the sodium and potassium levels in your blood aren’t within a certain narrow range, it can have effects on parts of your body like your muscles and heart. When your doctor measures your kidney function, they’re looking at levels of sodium and potassium but also at your eGFR – the rate at which your kidneys filter fluids. The lower this glomerular filtration rate, the slower your kidneys remove waste products.