Post Date December, 03 2023
Xiao Li just went to college this year. He found that his classmates were keen on fitness. He also drank several spoonfuls of protein powder after he was fit, which was said to be very good for muscle growth. In order to make himself stronger, Xiao Li also joined the fitness team. He not only insisted on two or three hours of exercise every day, but also consumed more protein powder than other students. Later, after a training, he suddenly fainted after eating a banana. After being sent to the hospital for examination, he found that it was caused by high blood potassium. After waking up, the doctor told Xiao Li that his creatinine had reached more than 1000 and he was suffering from uremia, so he must have dialysis immediately. (Potassium ions are excreted from the body through urine, and uremic patients are prone to hyperkalemia when they eat a large amount of foods with high potassium content (such as bananas). The symptoms of hyperkalemia are arrhythmia, which is easy to cause syncope, shock and even death).
After listening to this, Xiao Li was confused. He was also painless before. Why did he suddenly get uremia? This is related to his abuse of protein powder. Now protein powder is used by more and more people as a common health care product in life. Children, pregnant women and the elderly eat it to improve immunity, and young people eat it to keep fit. However, many people do not have basic medical knowledge and are prone to abuse. Abuse of protein powder will cause great damage to the kidney. The worst result is uremia and loss of health.
01
Protein - the foundation of life
At present, there are generally two sources of protein powder on the market. One is whey protein powder, which is a by-product of milk powder processing; The other is soybean protein powder, which is also the source of high-quality protein. Protein powder is suitable for people who are difficult to supplement sufficient protein from their diet to help people achieve the goals of improving immunity, muscle shaping, and fatigue.
Why does protein powder have so many functions? This is related to the physiological function of protein. Just as building a house can't be without bricks, it can't be without protein to form life. It is the necessary raw material for the growth, development and repair of the body. If you don't eat enough protein, children will have problems with their growth and development. People are prone to get sick, and patients will recover slowly. People who want to increase muscle will also have difficulty achieving the desired effect.
02
Why does excessive consumption of protein powder harm the kidney?
However, extreme things must be reversed. Excessive consumption of protein powder will also cause serious side effects. After protein is decomposed and utilized in the body, it will leave some nitrogenous wastes, such as creatinine and urea nitrogen, which need to be metabolized by the kidney. If a large amount of protein is consumed, a large amount of nitrogen-containing waste will be produced in the body, which will aggravate the workload of the kidney. The kidney will be prone to failure if it is overloaded for a long time, so we cannot overeat protein.
Now the living conditions of most Chinese people are very good. They will eat some meat every meal. Under normal circumstances, there is no need to take extra protein powder. Only some people with digestive and absorption problems or poor appetite who can not eat enough protein through diet need to supplement protein with protein powder. Otherwise, with a reasonable diet, natural food will be enough to meet our demand for protein.
03
These patients with kidney disease need to eat protein powder
So, should kidney patients who need to limit protein intake not take protein powder? Of course not!
Kidney friends in chronic disease stage limit protein intake in order to minimize the burden of kidney and delay the process of kidney disease. However, it is not only simple to limit protein intake, but also to increase the proportion of high-quality protein to 50%~70%, and at the same time ensure adequate intake of calories to prevent the body from decomposing the body muscles to provide heat, causing further damage to the kidney. Many kidney friends will suffer from different degrees of damage to the gastrointestinal tract because of taking medicine for a long time. It is difficult to eat enough high-quality protein and calories through food. In addition to providing high-quality protein, most protein powder can also contain a lot of calories. It is better for patients with chronic kidney disease who have a bad appetite to eat some.
However, dialysis patients with kidney disease will also have poor appetite or indigestion due to the accumulation of toxins. More than half of dialysis patients will have insufficient protein and calorie intake, resulting in malnutrition and delaying the treatment of the disease. For these patients with kidney disease, it is more appropriate to use protein powder to supplement insufficient nutrients in food.
No matter whether your body is healthy or not, as long as your appetite allows, natural food is always the best choice. If it is necessary to take nutritional supplements, it must be taken under the guidance of doctors and dietitians, so as to give full play to the role of nutritional supplements, prevent waste of money, and add to health.
