In this video, the 5 fastest ways to lower creatinine in stage 4 and 5 kidney disease
patients!
If you have kidney problems, you should never lose hope.
There are remedies and therapies that work...
Katherine from 00kidney here, welcome to our journey together to a better kidney health.
With the goal of improving kidney health FAST, today we will see the most promising innovative
treatments and we will also see what's science has already proven to work.
And by the way guys, there's a big update about the bioartificial implantable kidney.
Dr Shuvo Roy, project leader, in a recent interview has disclosed a date not just for
the human trials but for the commercialization of the artificial kidney!
More about this in today's video!
Now let's start with the 5 fastest ways to lower creatinine!
Number 5, Take care of anemia
Not many people know this, but taking care of anemia is one of the most effective ways
to slow down kidney disease and - in some cases - to lower creatinine levels.
Anemia is a very common condition in people with chronic kidney disease.
If you have symptoms such as fatigue, cold hands and feet or headaches, it's probably
anemia.
Sadly, anemia will not only make you feel tired, it damages the kidneys.
Anemia is a condition in which the body has fewer red blood cells than normal - but your
body needs those blood cells, and your kidneys too.
We can basically say that if you want to beat kidney disease, you'll have to beat anemia
too.
What to do then?
Take all the necessary steps to fight anemia.
For many patients, improving the diet is enough to increase hemoglobin significantly and lower
creatinine.
A simple trick to do this is eating foods rich in iron - such as spinach, kale, swiss
chard, beet greens at the same time as a food rich in vitamin C - such as kiwi, lemon, strawberry
and more.
Doing this regularly will provide your body with enough iron, and will make it bioavailable.
If this is not enough, a multivitamin can help.
Many vitamins are needed by the body to make red blood cells, but Vitamin C, vitamin b12
and folate are particularly useful.
As usual, talk with your doctor or dietitian before making any changes to your diet.
Also consider taking l carnitine.
This amino acid is often used for weight loss - but it has a ton of other benefits.
In particular, in studies on CKD patients, l-carnitine has been shown to be effective
as adjunctive treatment of anemia.
It also has a potential for reducing blood pressure and the inflammatory process associated
with kidney disease.
Now, these dietary changes and supplements may help, but some patients, especially those
in the advanced stages, may still need to take a medication called Erythropoietin.
So, very important, if you have symptoms of anemia such as fatigue and paleness and you've
not been diagnosed or are not being appropriately treated, talk to your doctor.
This is the only way to ensure you are doing everything you can to stop anemia.
By the way guys, I haven't talked in depth about anemia in ages now, so if you think
I should make a full video regarding everything you need to know to beat anemia, let me know
in comment section.
And also, feel free to ask any question you want.
Now guys, we have seen that some vitamins can help.
And, talking about vitamins, there's one in particular that's proven to help slowing down
ckd - even in patients in stage 4.
Number 4 Take vitamin d A recent study found out that supplementing
low-dose active vitamin D could SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the severity of proteinuria among patients
with CKD Proteinuria is one of the most important indicators
of kidney health - reducing proteinuria means also improving kidney health.
And, maybe even more important, kidney disease patients with the higher levels of vitamin
D are considerably less at risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in kidney disease patients, so what
this study is basically telling us is that this vitamin could save your life.
I want to be very clear on this - what researchers are saying here is that taking a vitamin D
supplement could realistically save your life, if you have kidney disease or if you are on
dialysis.
I know that a lot of people don't like taking too many supplements - I get it.
You're probably taking enough prescriptions already.
Adding more pills on-top-of-that is not always easy.
But, as we have seen with anemia, vitamins both from the diet and supplements are crucial
for managing ckd.
And, if there's only one thing worth taking in almost 100% of cases, it's vitamin D.
Vitamin D is so useful doctors are starting to call it the kidney vitamin.
It has so many benefits.
Many people take it because it can help with the immune system.
But it can also lower your risk for depression, lower your blood pressure, improve kidney
function, as we have seen.
And it can even improve insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes, according to a recent
study.
No other vitamin alone can boast all these incredible properties.
This is why I'm fairly convinced that - if you are only going to supplement one thing
- you should supplement vitamin D in its active form.
Commonly recommended dosages for people with kidney disease are between 600IU and 1000IU
- depending on levels.
Patients on dialysis are usually recommended to take 2000 IU per day instead.
Vitamin D supplements are very safe, still, consult your doctor before starting to take
it.
Now guys, here's what you have been waiting for
number 3 bioartificial kidney from UCSF As promised there's a big update regarding
the artificial kidney development!
I've decided to include in today's video about the fastest ways to lower creatinine because...
well, once it will be available, it will do exactly what the human kidneys do and it will
filter all the excess creatinine.
And this is not just theory.
And there's a big update directly from the Facebook page of The Kidney Project, the group
of researchers leaded by Dr. Shuvo Roy that are working on the artificial kidney.
Now guys, for those of you that don't know about the bioartificial kidney from UCSF,
we are talking about a REAL bioartificial organ here - because it's made from both artificial
parts and lab-made human kidney cells.
Once ready, it will be able to do the job of the kidneys completely.
The bioartificial kidney is going to be the size of a coffee cup and consists of two modules
that work together and that are powered by the human body.
Once implanted, the bioartificial kidney won't need any external power and it's meant to
be permanent, without the need for immunosuppressant drugs.
By the way, these are the first images online of the final product.
Cool, isn't it?
It's composed by two parts, as you can see.
I'll keep this simple, I don't wanna bore you.
However, the first part here is the hemofilter.
It basically does what a dialysis machine does.
It removes toxins and scores from the blood.
They have already tested it on animals and proven that it works.
Now, the human kidney does way more than just filtering the blood.
It's involved in many essential processes such assisting with blood pressure and hormone
production.
That's why there's also a second component in the bioartificial kidney, the bioreactor.
The bioreactor contains a culture of human kidney cells - so that's why they call it
BIOartificial - and it's gonna help filter a patient's blood by reabsorbing nutrients
and routing toxins and excess water-the urine-to the bladder for excretion.
Now, this part too was tested on animals - as we can see here.
What they are doing right now is working on the integration of these two components and
on obtaining the FDA approval for testing the completed bioartificial kidney on humans.
They "expect to arrive at this final stage of clinical trials by late 2021."
After that they WILL START TO TEST IT ON HUMANS hopefully already in 2022.
Now the amazing news In a recent interview, Dr Shuvo Roy, project
leader, said that he is confident that the artificial kidney will be commercialized in
2025!
Which is amazing... we are talking what ... 3 years?
And this is the first time they set a date not just for the human trials but for the
commercialization of the ultimate product.
And by the way, if any of you guys are interested in participating in the human trial for the
artificial kidneys that as I said could be starting already next year, The Kidney Project
has a database, a sort of waiting list for people wanting to be test subjects for the
artificial kidney - you can find all the info down in video description.
Now here is something you can start using right now.
This is a very powerful remedy that was tested on stage 4 and 5 kidney disease patients.
Number 2 Astragalus!
This adaptogen was proven to be INCREDIBLY EFFECTIVE REMEDY against the progression of
kidney disease.
In a study published on prestigious paper, Astragalus extract was able to lower creatinine
levels of stage 4 and 5 kidney disease patients in particular, after just 3 months of therapy
with astragalus, creatinine levels were, on average, significantly better with astragalus.
Patients in stage 4 were also able to keep these improved levels for 6 months or more.
And this is amazing!
Taking astragalus was also beneficial for the other most important levels for CKD, such
as BUN, GFR and proteinuria.
Astragalus has several benefits that could explain this significant improvement in kidney
function.
According to several studies, this adaptogen can help lowering blood pressure and blood
glucose levels, the most common causes of kidney damage.
It can also help improving the immune system and protecting the kidneys from infections.
Now, the interesting part about astragalus is that it's already widely used to treat
several conditions, thanks to these benefits.
So you wont have any problems finding it right now in herbalist's shops or on amazon.
It's also very cheap, to do a 3 months treatment you would have to spend around 15 to 20$.
The dosage used in the study I've mentioned is 2,5 grams of extract per day - but don't
forget to consult your doctor if you want to try this remedy.
Number 1 the alkaline diet!
FACT, eating alkaline may be enough to effectively lower your creatinine levels and slow down
or completely stop the progression of kidney disease!
This is what a study published on the Journal of Renal Nutrition found out!
The author of the study have proven that a low protein diet with less animal protein
and more Fruit and Vegetables, will result in some patients showing stable renal function,
and a few patients EVEN IMPROVING RENAL FUNCTION.
The author of this important paper thinks that
Regression of CKD MAY BE POSSIBLE for patients following an alkaline diet.
Now guys I've recently made a very interesting video about the 7 habits you would need to
develop to turn your diet into an alkaline one - watch it now if you have missed it!
It's up here!
And a new video is coming next Tuesday, I hope to see you there.
In the meantime, keep taking good care of your kidneys and be good to yourself.
This is all for today, thank you for watching!