Causes of Kidney Disease

As with atherosclerosis, any deficiency that prevents lecithin production appears to trigger kidney disorder. Nephritis has been produced in practically every kind of animal, including insects, by diets deficient in vital fatty acids. Cholesterol and fats are deposited in kidney tissues; the coils of capillaries break down, blood and albumin are lost from the urine, dropsy develops, big areas of tissue are destroyed, as well as the tubules often turn out to be calcified.

Animals lacking magnesium also develop nephritis and show the similar degenerative changes, made worse after the kidney has once been broken, mainly because this mineral is far more readily lost inside the urine. When the diet is only slightly deficient in magnesium, the kidneys turn into tremendously swollen, and 25 times more calcium than regular might be deposited within the kidney tissues. This condition becomes much additional severe if phosphorus is high and calcium low.

When both vitamin B6 and magnesium are under supplied, the kidneys are further broken by sharp crystals of oxalic acid combined with calcium, and as considerably as three quarters in the kidney may possibly be replaced by scar tissue. Children with oxalic-acid kidney stones frequently have excessive blood pressure and kidneys so broken that they develop into progressively worse, causing death from kidney failure early in life.

The typical American high-phosphorus, low-calcium diet, given to animals, causes kidney tissues to turn into calcified, though such calcification is prevented when the amount of dietary calcium is doubled.

Influence of Other Vitamins


Since the tiny kidney tubules are lined with mucous membrane, if too little vitamin A is provided, they soon develop into plugged with dead cells; less urine may be formed, excessive water held inside body causes the blood stress to improve, and urea backs up into the blood; and vitamin A is rapidly lost from the liver and physique tissues into the urine at the very time it truly is most needed. When patients with nephritis have been given 50,000 to 75,000 units of vitamin A every day, urea excretion has increased as a lot as go per cent, showing that kidney function had markedly improved.

If vitamin E is deficient, nephritis occurs in which the tubules turn into so plugged with dead cells that urine can't pass; and dropsy and progressive degeneration turn out to be marked. Ought to this deficiency be prolonged, even the big collecting tubules are entirely destroyed, yet adding the vitamin corrects the condition. Vitamin E has largely prevented the calcification of the kidneys caused by excessive vitamin D and other poisonous substances.

Dozens of physicians have reported the marked helpful effects of giving vitamin E to persons with kidney ailments. When children with acute nephritis took 300 units of vitamin E each day, their dropsy promptly disappeared and blood and albumin were no longer lost inside the urine. Adults with Bright's disorder showed similar improvement after taking 300 to 600 milligrams with the vitamin every day. Vitamin E helps cells survive by decreasing their need for oxygen; it prevents scarring, a severe dilemma in both kidney ailments and kidneys damaged by poisonous chemicals; and at times it lowers high blood pressure associated with kidney illness, and increases the flow of urine.

The Effect of Tension

Bright's sickness has been produced in animals by giving salt as well as the adrenal hormone DOC a situation comparable to that of humans eating well-salted foods while under tension but unable to produce sufficient cortisone. These animals develop high blood strain, dropsy, enlarged hearts, narrowed, rigid-walled blood vessels, albumin in the urine, and extensive degeneration and scarring from the kidney. If cortisone is offered or the entire body is allowed to generate cortisone usually, no kidney harm happens.

Nephritis frequently develops following such stresses as severe infections, particularly strep throats, poisoning from lead or bichloride of mercury, as well as the taking of poisonous drugs. Even healthy soldiers submitted towards the stresses of extreme cold, running, long hikes, or diets low in protein or fat showed kidney harm to the extent that albumin and blood had been temporarily misplaced in their urine. Because cortisone, offered for nephritis, has been "strikingly advantageous," every effort must be made to stimulate natural cortisone production the minute the disease is diagnosed.