Transcription
Hey, this is Dr. Berry. Let's talk for just a few minutes about chronic kidney disease and whether it's reversible or not.
There are at least 31 million people in the United States alone who suffer from some degree of chronic kidney disease. It is a huge public health problem and not just in the United States, but in the entire world. The question becomes, can we reverse any of this kidney damage? And I think that we can.
Now, if you know anyone with kidney damage of any stage from stage one to stage five, please share this video with them, share it with one of their family members so that perhaps we can reach them and help them understand that they're not doomed to having a certain stage of kidney failure for the rest of their life. I think they can, at least partially, reverse their chronic kidney disease. So let's talk about this.
Now, the leading cause of chronic kidney disease in the US and indeed in the world is diabetes and hypertension. Now both of these conditions are caused by chronically high blood sugars which lead to chronically high insulin levels either because of your pancreas, putting out a lot more insulin trying to lower your blood sugar or by you taking insulin injections or taking a medication if you're diabetic. That causes your pancreas to secrete even more insulin. All these things lead to chronic kidney disease. They are by far and away the first and second most common causes of CKD in the world.
So anytime you hear someone say that Oh, you're eating too much protein. That's going to cause kidney damage. That's ridiculous. That is the statement of an unlearned individual, with all due respect. What causes kidney damage is chronically high blood sugar and chronically high insulin levels in the bloodstream caused by your diets.
Now, if you're a type one diabetic you can't really, you don't have as much control over this, but you still can use a low carbohydrate diet to improve your type one control. And you don't you're not guaranteed a life of kidney disease because of your diabetes. If you take care of it properly. So by far and away, the most common causes are diabetes and hypertension, both of which are at least partially reversible with your diets.
Now the way doctors diagnose kidney failure or kidney disease is by finding a protein called albumin in your urine. That's the very first indication Oh, this person has some kidney disease because your kidneys are supposed to filter all the protein back out, all the amino acids out, and put it back in your blood supply because it's very expensive for your body to manufacture amino acids and to manufacture proteins. And so your body doesn't like to ever waste energy if it can. So it tries to recycle all those by collecting them in the kidneys and putting them back into the bloodstream. But when you've damaged your kidneys enough with chronic diabetes and chronic hypertension, your kidneys start to spill protein into your urine.
And I think this is the reason that the myth that protein harms your kidneys is it comes out of the mouths of many doctors is because if you're peeing out protein in your urine and that's a sign of kidney disease, then surely proteins what caused it, right? No, it's a little more complicated than that. That's why we go to school all those years. We're supposed to know better than such foolishness, but some of us don't yet.
So there are several studies some in rodents and some in human humans showing that CKD, chronic kidney disease, can absolutely be reversed by low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet. I'm going to put a link down below to these studies and you can check them out at your leisure and verify what I'm saying. Okay, there are a couple of studies down there that show without doubt that a high fat diet does not damage your kidneys, that a high protein diet in fact does not damage your kidneys at all. Stop worrying about the fat. Stop, worrying about the protein. Start worrying about eating too many carbohydrates.
I can also tell you my anecdotal experience in my practice at the very clinic for going on 20 years now, I have never seen someone's kidney function get worse when they're eating a ketogenic diet. I have multiple times had patients with stage three chronic kidney disease turn it back into stage two with the ketogenic diet. I have had patients with stage four chronic kidney disease improve it back to stage three with the ketogenic diet. I've seen it multiple times in my practice. That's not a randomized controlled trial. You're absolutely right, but some of the trials down below were pretty darn convincing.
So it's my opinion that you absolutely can stop any further damage to your kidneys with a ketogenic diet and quite possibly improve your kidney function at least to some degree. And if you're stage three and stage four chronic kidney disease, that is a big deal. Okay.
So if you enjoy this video and my combination of common sense and research, please click subscribe. It's right down there, right down there somewhere and click the little bell right beside it. So that every time I have a new bright idea you'll be one of the very first to know if I've really helped to improve your health you can sign up on my Patrion page. There's a link down there. It's a quick signup and you can throw a buck or two to my way to help me have more time to help more people just like you. This is Dr. Berry. I'll see you next time.