Recent decades of research have documented the health hazards resulting from obesity. We now know that excess fat tissue in the body can act as its own hormone system with detrimental effects on the body. This hormone system can worsen diabetes, cardiovascular disease, some cancers, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and kidney disease.
Being overweight has a serious effect on kidney functions. Glomerulonephritis starts to increase in overweight people (BMI 25-29.9) and obese (BMI over 30.0). Two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight and 1/3 are obese. One of the earliest results of kidney damage is albumin in the urine (albuminuria). In one study, a weight reduction of only 4.1% in diabetics with proteinuria reduced the protein in the urine by 30%. Proteinuria in obese patients is termed “obesity-related glomerulopathy”. The proteinuria can be significantly reduced by weight loss.
CONCLUSION: Weight loss must be considered therapeutic in overweight people who have chronic kidney disease. The high acid load of the diets of obese people can be treated with bicarbonates.
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PMID: 21623393.
Summary #704.
