- Hey, this is Dr. Berry.
Let's talk for just a few minutes
about chronic kidney disease
and whether it's reversible or not.
There are at least 31 million people
in the United States alone who suffer
from some degree of chronic kidney disease.
It is a huge public health problem
and not just in the United States, but in the entire world.
The question becomes,
can we reverse any of this kidney damage?
And I think that we can.
Now, if you know anyone with kidney damage of any stage
from stage one to stage five, please share this video
with them, share it with one of their family members so
that perhaps we can reach them
and help them understand that they're not doomed
to having a certain stage of kidney failure
for the rest of their life.
I think they can, at least partially,
reverse their chronic kidney disease.
So let's talk about this.
Now, the leading cause of chronic kidney disease in the US
and indeed in the world is diabetes and hypertension.
Now both of these conditions are caused
by chronically high blood sugars
which lead to chronically high insulin levels either
because of your pancreas, putting out a lot more insulin
trying to lower your blood sugar
or by you taking insulin injections or taking a medication
if you're diabetic.
That causes your pancreas to secrete even more insulin.
All these things lead to chronic kidney disease.
They are by far and away the first
and second most common causes of CKD in the world.
So anytime you hear someone say that
Oh, you're eating too much protein.
That's going to cause kidney damage.
That's ridiculous.
That is the statement of an unlearned individual,
with all due respect.
What causes kidney damage is chronically high blood sugar
and chronically high insulin levels
in the bloodstream caused by your diets.
Now, if you're a type one diabetic
you can't really, you don't have as much control
over this, but you still can use
a low carbohydrate diet to improve your type one control.
And you don't you're not guaranteed a life of kidney disease
because of your diabetes.
If you take care of it properly.
So by far and away, the most common causes are diabetes
and hypertension, both of which are at least
partially reversible with your diets.
Now the way doctors diagnose kidney failure
or kidney disease is by finding a protein
called albumin in your urine.
That's the very first indication
Oh, this person has some kidney disease
because your kidneys are supposed
to filter all the protein back out,
all the amino acids out,
and put it back in your blood supply
because it's very expensive
for your body to manufacture amino acids
and to manufacture proteins.
And so your body doesn't like to ever waste energy
if it can.
So it tries to recycle all those by collecting them
in the kidneys and putting them back into the bloodstream.
But when you've damaged your kidneys enough
with chronic diabetes and chronic hypertension,
your kidneys start to spill protein into your urine.
And I think this is the reason that the myth
that protein harms your kidneys is it comes
out of the mouths of many doctors is
because if you're peeing out protein in your urine
and that's a sign of kidney disease,
then surely proteins what caused it, right?
No, it's a little more complicated than that.
That's why we go to school all those years.
We're supposed to know better
than such foolishness, but some of us don't yet.
So there are several studies
some in rodents and some in human humans showing
that CKD, chronic kidney disease, can absolutely be reversed
by low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet.
I'm going to put a link down below to these studies
and you can check them out at your leisure
and verify what I'm saying.
Okay, there are a couple of studies down there
that show without doubt that a high fat diet
does not damage your kidneys, that a high protein diet
in fact does not damage your kidneys at all.
Stop worrying about the fat.
Stop, worrying about the protein.
Start worrying about eating too many carbohydrates.
I can also tell you my anecdotal experience
in my practice at the very clinic for going
on 20 years now, I have never seen
someone's kidney function get
worse when they're eating a ketogenic diet.
I have multiple times had patients
with stage three chronic kidney disease turn it back
into stage two with the ketogenic diet.
I have had patients with stage four chronic kidney disease
improve it back to stage three with the ketogenic diet.
I've seen it multiple times in my practice.
That's not a randomized controlled trial.
You're absolutely right,
but some of the trials down below
were pretty darn convincing.
So it's my opinion
that you absolutely can stop any further damage
to your kidneys with a ketogenic diet
and quite possibly improve your kidney function
at least to some degree.
And if you're stage three
and stage four chronic kidney disease, that is a big deal.
Okay. So if you enjoy this video
and my combination of common sense and research,
please click subscribe.
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This is Dr. Berry. I'll see you next time.