Losing Weight Helps Patients With Kidney Disease

The symptoms and complications of many diseases can be improved by losing weight, and kidney disease is the latest addition to that list.

A study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology, found that losing weight through diet and exercise had a positive impact.

Dr. Sankar Navaneethan, from Ohio's Cleveland Clinic, led the study and found that patients who lost weight had lower levels of proteinuria (protein in the urine - a key feature of kidney disease).

Losing weight through surgery also assisted, though in a different way. In obese patients who didn't yet have kidney disease, but whose kidneys filtered waste products unusually fast (a risk factor for kidney disease), it helped normalize the rate of filteration.

A large number of Americans - currently 20 million - suffer from kidney disease. Since around two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, it's safe to assume that the results of this study could be of benefit to a large number of kidney disease patients.

Even if you don't have kidney disease, this study provides yet another good reason to maintain a healthy weight: to protect your kidneys from any future complications.