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Your Western Diet Is Destroying This Organ
By Victor Marchione, M.D. on 02/11/2011
The typical Western diet, although changing in some communities, is still high in processed meats, saturated fats and sweets for a large portion of the population. Unfortunately, this diet is also associated with a number of health complaints. Diabetes, heart disease, and digestive ailments come quickly to mind. But now a research team has discovered another risk: a Western diet is also associated with an increased risk of kidney function decline.
A team of U.S. researchers investigated the effects of three different diets on kidney function: Western, “Prudent” and DASH. The Prudent diet includes plenty of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, poultry, and fish, according to the report, while the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension) diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods and is low in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol.
In all, the research team evaluated the kidney function of 3,121 women over 11 years. The women were participants in the Nurses’ Health Study. Each patient’s kidney function was assessed using two different methods: “estimated glomerular filtration rate” (eGFR), which measures how well the kidney filters blood; and testing for the presence of “microalbuminuria,” a urinary protein that is a marker of vascular disease and inflammation.
While the researchers found overall that the women in the study had well-functioning kidneys, they also found some interesting discrepancies. A Western diet was associated with increased levels of albuminuria and increased risk of rapid eGFR decline. This was not the case with the other diets.
Medical experts consider the kidneys a highly vascular organ, meaning it conducts and circulates fluid, such as blood. For this reason, the researchers weren’t surprised to find that the Western diet, which has been linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, is also associated with kidney function decline over time.
Now you have two good reasons to adopt a healthier diet. Fresh fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean meat or fish, and healthy oils like olive oil are definitely the way to go for the health of all your organs. Without the proper functioning of even just one organ — such as your kidneys — you’re guaranteed to experience symptoms that will likely affect the quality of your life and cause you personal suffering.
Printer-friendly versionAbout the author
Dr. Victor Marchione received his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1973 and his Medical Degree from the University of Messina in 1981. He has been licensed and practicing medicine in New York and New Jersey for over 20 years.
Dr. Marchione is a respected leader in the field of smoking cessation and pulmonary medicine. He has been featured on ABC News and World Report, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and the NBC Today Show and is the editor of the popular The Food Doctor newsletter.
Dr. Marchione has also served as Principal Investigator in at least a dozen clinical research projects relating to serious ailments such as bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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Comments
Helen
Praise going up for Drs. that study and care enough to help all who read such results. Take it to heart familys and do right
people, this is truly one of the best sites on the internet.
Lori
We need some working definitions here, particularly with saturated fat. Humans from the beginning of time have eaten animal foods including the fat, vegetation available in their environment, with very low grain consumption. We eat more grains than any other culture. Low fat dairy products are not real food. Removing the fat also removes the fat soluble nutrients and minerals like calcium, and then the food needs to be fortified. There is absolutely no nutritional value to low fat cheese, for example, except added calcium that the body cannot use unless it is 1) naturally occuring in the food source and 2) is accompanied by the fat soluble nutrients like D3 and K2 that aid in absorption and deposition. We should eat plenty of vegetables, fruit, wild fish, etc., but saying that "saturated fat" is only part of a "western" diet and not a "prudent" diet is crazy. What about the French paradox, for heaven's sake? It 's also possible that those in the study who followed the western diet also drank more soda and diet soda than those on the other two "diets". That's enough to destroy kidney function right there. High insulin levels and insulin resistence also causes sodium to be reabsorbed in the kidneys. One more thing...study after study has shown that eating foods containing cholesterol does not necessarily raise cholesterol levels and that saturated fat intake is not necessarily associated with heart disease. We really need to get this straight. The typical advice like this is NOT working.
Boomer12k
The "Western" diet is clogging to the circulation system, one man had a heart blockage removed that was 18 inches long!!!! No lie, I saw the video!!! An 18 inch gelatinous MASS!!!!
Since the kidneys are said to circulate fluids, and this diet is "clogging" to the system, it make sense that circulation to the kidneys would be impaired too.
One thing people don't talk about is the CLEANSING properties of fruits and veggies. I have a friend who was getting heavy on the "regular diet", and so he goes on a "RAW" diet of fruits, nuts, and veggies, generally only for ten days. He loses weight, AND HE FEELS BETTER!!!! What does that tell you???? It is cleaning the system of impurities, waste build up, washing out dead cells, etc....plus fewer calories, etc... Since the kidneys help in the filtration process, it makes since that a fruit and veggie diet would help the kidneys do their job easier, by CLEANING UP THE SYSTEM. AS WELL AS OTHER ORGANS!!! Organ BLOCKAGES CAN BE PREVENTED WITH A BALANCED DIET, AND NO CLOGGING FOODS LIKE REFINED GRAINS AND SUGARS!!!!! No pastries, cookies, pies, cakes, donuts, candy, pop, etc.... The only good things in the store are in the produce section. You want to be HEALTHIER?????? I recommend starting there!!!
Be well and happy,
Steve
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