Watermelon and kidney disease

Watermelon and kidney disease

The Internet is littered with kidney-cleansing regimens, many of which involve watermelon. Don't be duped by their glowing testimonials and scientific-sounding rationales. Not only is there no credible evidence in favor of such schemes, eating too much watermelon can be downright dangerous for patients with advanced kidney disease.
How Kidneys Work
Healthy kidneys filter more than 200 gallons of blood every day. They remove waste products, such as creatinine and urea, that are created by the muscles and excrete these into the urine. These organs do not become contaminated by toxins, so they do not need to be cleaned to do their job.
The kidneys discharge toxins and excessive water out of the blood. One important aspect for a renal diet is to balance the intake of water. Many patients on dialysis have limited ability to urinate. These patients must restrict their fluid intake because they have to wait until their next dialysis session to remove extra liquids from their bodies. Foods such as watermelon and jello count as liquids for dialysis patients, and for dialysis patients on a fluid restriction, watermelon may be limited to 1 cup or restricted altogether. If a patient has obviously reduced urine output and body swelling, eating watermelon could cause severer water retention, swelling and worsened high blood pressure. But if people are at earlier stages of kidney diseases, eating watermelon could be allowed and produce diuretic effects.
Many kidney-cleansing schemes emphasize the importance of water. However, many patients on dialysis have limited ability to urinate. These patients must restrict their fluid intake because they have to wait until their next dialysis session to remove extra liquids from their bodies. Foods such as watermelon and jello count as liquids for dialysis patients, and for dialysis patients on a fluid restriction, watermelon may be limited to 1 cup or restricted altogether.
If you have kidney disease, you should consult a doctor for nutritional advice based on your lab values, kidney condition, blood pressure, age and other similar factors. Doing as is suggested by your doctor can help to prolong health of kidneys and minimize symptoms of kidney diseases.
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Potassium Issues
The kidneys of patients with advanced kidney disease are often unable to remove potassium from their blood. If serum potassium levels creep above 5.0 mEq/L, nephrologists recommend low potassium diets. High serum potassium can be a true medical emergency because it causes irregular heartbeats.

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