(upbeat music)
- Hi, My name is Laura Cochran,
and I'm a registered dietician.
If you have kidney disease,
you may already know
you need to watch the
phosphorus in your diet
to avoid problems, like heart disease,
damage to blood vessels,
or weak and brittle bones.
This video will explain the connection
between phosphorus and kidney disease
and give you some tips on
how to manage phosphorus.
Let's talk about why that's so important.
Phosphorus is a mineral
that teams with calcium
to keep your bones and
teeth healthy and strong.
Phosphorus has other
important roles in the body.
Some of these are to
build your blood cells,
keep your muscles working,
increase your energy,
and improve digestion.
Most people end up eating more phosphorus
than they actually need.
It is the kidney's job to
filter out and throw away
the extra phosphorus that
the body doesn't need.
Imagine you're in a coffee shop.
Imagine your kidney is a coffee filter.
A coffee filter keeps
out the gritty grounds,
but allows water to
pass through the grounds
to make that perfect cup of coffee.
Healthy kidneys allow just
enough phosphorus through
into the blood to keep the body healthy
and then gets rid of the rest.
When you have kidney disease,
and your kidney's filters
are broken or overworked,
too much phosphorus gets
through into the blood.
The body likes to have an equal amount
of phosphorus and calcium in the blood.
When you have too much
phosphorus in the blood,
your body will pull calcium
from the bones in an attempt
to match the amount of
phosphorus in the blood,
causing bones to become weak and brittle.
This condition is called
hyperphosphatemia.
If there is a combination
of too much calcium
and phosphorus in the blood,
together they can make
the blood vessels hard.
Then the blood vessels and the
organs they supply blood to
can get damaged.
If this happens, a person
might not feel any symptoms
or they might feel joint or bone pain
and even experience broken bones.
It is important to eat
low phosphorus foods
to help keep the phosphorus
levels in your blood
from getting too high.
A dietician can help
teach you and your family
how to select these foods.
It is also important to exercise,
even if it's just in a chair,
to help strengthen your bones.
Even when people watch
what they are eating
and try not to eat foods
with a lot of phosphorus,
that may not be enough to keep phosphorus
in the blood normal.
Then they might need to
take a special medicine
called phosphorus binders
or phosphate binders.
This medicine helps soak up the phosphorus
from food in your stomach
before it goes into the blood stream.
This may seem challenging at times,
but with a little planning and preparation
you will find plenty of
delicious foods you can enjoy.
(upbeat music)
