Let's talk about vitamins: they're crucial to repair your kidneys.
If you want to improve your kidney health, you must follow a diet to nourish your kidneys
without burdening them.
And, while vitamins are important for everyone, ABOUT 79% OF PEOPLE WITH KIDNEY DISEASE HAVE
ONE OR MORE VITAMIN DEFICIENCIES.
And that's a problem, even a small deficiency of vitamins can make
kidney disease progress faster.
Yes, there's no way you can repair your kidneys if you don't nourish them well enough.
And you cannot even take a regular multivitamin, because Some Vitamins can accumulate and become
toxic for you if you have kidney disease.
On the bright side, when you are able to balance your vitamin intake, you will relieve symptoms
such as anemia, swelling and fatigue.
And you will help your kidneys recover and repair!
So today, in this short video, I'll show you exactly what is the easiest way to get all
the vitamins your kidneys need without overloading them on the toxic ones.
My name is Katherine and I've been working with kidney disease patients for 7 years now.
I've met people who were able to reverse kidney disease and improve their kidney function
and all of them had to find a way to get a balanced vitamin intake.
Today, I'll show you the easiest way to achieve exactly this.
And, by the way if you are new here on 00kidney, welcome to our journey together to a better
kidney health!
Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell!
So here's what I'm going to show you in today's video:
- what vitamins help you reverse kidney damage - what vitamins are dangerous for you
- the best way to get the right vitamins from foods and supplements
Let's start immediately,
What vitamins do you need to fight kidney disease?
Easy, all of them!
According to the Institute of Medicine, the human body needs at least 13 vitamins to function
properly.
I want to clarify one thing immediately: you need all the essential vitamins in your diet.
If you're serious about reversing kidney disease, Nutrition is not optional.
Following a balanced diet is the preferred way to get the recommended amount of ALL the
vitamins.
Not so easy for people with chronic kidney disease, am I right?
While for people with healthy kidney, getting all the vitamins from foods is easy enough,
if you have kidney disease some vitamins will be hard to get.
Because many foods rich in potassium and phosphorus, that you have to avoid, are also very rich
in healthy vitamins.
And, a lot of people don't know this, but some vitamins are actually toxic for you if
you have kidney problems.
This is why you will have to be very careful with what you eat, and, more important, with
what supplements you take.
So, let's see what vitamins you need to supplement and what you need to avoid:
Now, there are two kinds of vitamins: Fat soluble vitamins and water-soluble vitamins.
It's very important to know this because kidney patients usually lack vitamins of this group,
water soluble.
So, Vitamins of the B complex and Vitamin C are very important for you.
On the other hand, you should be very careful with fat-soluble vitamins A, E and K.
These are likely to build up in your body.
Vitamin A is especially a concern, as toxic levels may occur even with daily supplements.
This is why you cannot take a standard multivitamin.
You can easily exceed the recommended daily intake of these fat soluble vitamins.
And this can easily cause harm: Over time, they can cause dizziness, nausea, and even
death.
So, remember these 3 vitamins, ok?
A, E and K. these can be dangerous if you have kidney disease.
Now, vitamin D IS a different story.
More about this in a moment.
So, to answer the question "what vitamins are dangerous for you":
This slide is more accurate
Vitamins E, K and A should never be supplemented.
Supplements containing fat soluble vitamins, especially vitamin A are dangerous for kidney
disease patients.
But don't worry if you eat foods rich in these vitamins, the levels in food are not dangerous.
And, to answer the question, what vitamins you should get more of
vitamin C, vitamins of the B complex and Vitamin D are
the vitamins that you may need to supplement.
Let's see how to do that.
People with CKD have greater requirements for vitamins of the B Complex.
It's very important for kidney patients to get enough B vitamins both from diet and supplements.
B complex vitamins are grouped together, but it's not just one vitamin.
It's 8 of them.
thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pantothenic acid
(vitamin b5), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), biotin (vitamin B7), folic acid (Vitamin B9), cobalamin
(Vitamin B12) These water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water
and aren't stored by the body; any excess is eliminated by the kidneys.
and each has a different job to do.
Mostly, these vitamins help to change the foods you eat into energy your body can use.
And one of the most important functions of vitamin of the b complex, especially B6, B12
and folic acid is to work together with iron to prevent anemia.
If you have anemia, it means you do not have enough red blood cells.
Red blood cells carry oxygen from your lungs to all parts of your body.
This is a common complication of kidney disease, and a cause of fatigue.
And remember that if you constantly suffer from anemia, your kidney function is going
to decline faster.
Now, these two vitamins, B6 and B12 are those people are usually lacking.
Lack of vitamin B1 can also happen in kidney patients, it's not that uncommon.
B vitamins are found in a variety of animal and plant sources of foods.
The best food sources for vitamins of the b complex include
Whole grains, lean Meat, Eggs, Legumes, ?Seeds and nuts, Dark leafy vegetables and Fruits.
Basically, you would need a perfectly balanced, healthy renal diet to get enough b complex
vitamins.
Also, you can supplement them.
More about this in the final part of the video.
Now, What about vitamin C?
Vitamin C is very important for people with kidney disease.
You may have to supplement it.
Vitamin C is widely known for its function as an antioxidant that improves the immune
health.
However, vitamin C also plays a key part in wound healing, bone and tooth formation and
heart health.
There is concern that if you have CKD, taking very high doses of vitamin C can cause a buildup
of oxalate, which can be deposited in the bones and soft tissues.
Not good for your kidneys.
This is why, for kidney patients, Vitamin C supplements are recommended, but in smaller
dosage than what you can usually find.
Now, Vitamin C also helps with the absorption and utilization of iron.
This is very, very important because many kidney disease patients suffer from anemia,
a condition often caused by lack of iron.
I won't get too much in depth about this topic because I've made a full video about how to
beat anemia.
It's up here if you want to watch it.
Now, to summarize the correlation between anemia and vitamin C, there's a trick you
can use to improve iron absorption.
It is eating vitamin C rich foods together with iron rich foods.
The most well-known source of vitamin C is citrus fruit, but you can also get vitamin
C from strawberries, green and red bell peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts and kiwifruit.
Now, maybe the most important vitamin for you is vitamin D.
let's see why.
Vitamin D is VERY important for you: it is necessary to maintain healthy bones and teeth,
but it can also protect against heart disease.
It also plays a role in muscle function and allows the brain and body to communicate through
our nervous system.
This vitamin has also been linked to improving symptoms of depression.
Now, in CKD the kidney loses the ability to make vitamin D active.
In people with chronic kidney disease, low vitamin D levels are frequent, sometimes even
severely low levels.
And this happens in about 79 percent of people suffering from kidney disease.
What this means is that, if you want to repair your kidneys, you have to get enough of this
vitamin.
How?
The three sources of Vitamin D are diet, sunlight, and supplementation.
The food sources of vitamin D are somewhat limited, they include cod and oily fish (herring,
sardines, salmon), and mushrooms like shitaki mushrooms.
The body has also the unique ability to produce vitamin D through the skin in response to
direct sunlight.
This is why getting outside is so healthy for you.
Now, supplementation with special active vitamin D, called vitamin D3 is usually recommended.
Vitamin D3 or cholecalciferol, is the active form which doesn't need to be converted by
your kidneys.
So, you will want to get a prescription for vitamin D3, because that's what your kidneys
need.
Now, if you want to buy this vitamin as a supplement, be very careful with the dosage.
Many brands have dosages of 2000 IU and even 5000 IU and that's way too much for kidney
disease patients.
Recent studies found out that daily doses of 700-1000 IU/day are to be preferred.
So, keep that in mind.
And obviously ask your doctor before buying anything.
Now, there are renal vitamins commercially available that you can purchase.
These contain all the vitamins of the b complex, active D vitamin and a small dose of vitamin
C.
If your doctor has not prescribed a vitamin supplement, ask if you could benefit from
taking one.
Only use the vitamin supplement approved by your kidney doctor or dietitian.
You can buy these vitamins on Amazon, if you want.
Also, on my website newhopeforkidneypatients.com I'm maintaining a list of the most useful
supplements to improve your kidney health.
Link is in description.
This is all for today, if you want to know more about remedies to repair your kidneys,
this video here is for you.
And stay tuned, because a new video is coming next Tuesday!
Thank you for watching, see you there!