"Brown rice is the best." It's good for blood sugar, but for "this type of person," it's not so good.

Diabetic patients must be careful not to damage their kidneys.

 

The kidneys are made up of microscopic blood vessels and receive a large blood flow, receiving 20% ​​of the blood pumped by the heart. They also filter waste products in the urine. High levels of glucose in the blood and urine inevitably strain the kidneys. Let's learn about diabetic nephropathy, one of the complications that diabetics must be particularly wary of.

 

Diabetic nephropathy is a disease caused by persistent hyperglycemia, which reduces kidney function to approximately 60%. Complications are broadly categorized into macrovascular and microvascular complications, with microvascular complications being the most common.

 

Diabetic nephropathy is an inevitable complication for many people with diabetes. Approximately 30-40% of diabetes patients in Korea suffer from diabetic nephropathy. The longer the duration of diabetes, the more likely the kidneys are to be damaged by secondary metabolites related to blood sugar.

The risk of diabetic nephropathy increases when diabetes is accompanied by other comorbidities, such as hypertension, obesity, or dyslipidemia. Ultimately, it can progress to end-stage renal disease, requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation.

Thorough blood sugar management is both the prevention and treatment of diabetic nephropathy. You should be careful about what you eat, exercise regularly, and take appropriate medications.

 

Even for diabetic patients, the diet is completely different depending on how much kidney function remains.

 

It is commonly known that it is better for diabetics to eat brown rice instead of white rice, but if you are a diabetic with severely reduced kidney function (stage 4-5 kidney failure), it is better to eat white rice instead of brown rice.

 

This is because phosphorus and potassium, found in grains, can adversely affect kidney function. Therefore, diabetic nephropathy patients should regularly monitor their kidney function and develop a management strategy with their healthcare provider.

You should also avoid taking medications indiscriminately. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can further damage the kidneys of patients with diabetic nephropathy. Even when purchasing a single painkiller from a pharmacy, you should always inform the pharmacist of your underlying medical condition. Caution is also required with contrast media used in CT scans.

 

Thorough blood sugar management is essential to preventing the progression of the disease. Furthermore, annual kidney function tests are recommended. Diabetic nephropathy has few symptoms in the early stages. Only after the disease has progressed do symptoms like foamy urine, frequent urination, nocturia, edema, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath appear. By this point, kidney function may have already deteriorated significantly, making treatment difficult. Therefore, regular checkups are crucial for early detection.

 

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People with poor kidney function should eat white rice instead of brown rice.

 

Healthy food, depending on the disease

There are also things to avoid

 

I need to get regular health checkups.