Dietary Choices for Reducing Blood Urea Nitrogen
Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is used to monitor the level of urea in blood. If it is higher than the normal values, it may indicate kidney disease. Generally speaking, the higher BUN levels, the more serious kidney damage. In addition to medical treatments, dietary choices can also help reduce blood urea nitrogen.
Which kinds of foods can help lower BUN levels?
Urea is one terminal produce of protein metabolism which is discharged out of the body via kidneys. Therefore, to lower BUN level, the basic dietary requirement is to protect functioning kidney tissues and increase glomerular filtration rate.
According to this requirement, the following dietary choices are suitable. If you have this problem, you can learn to reduce your high BUN levels here.
Firstly, limit the sodium intake. Sodium can increase the burden on kidneys and worsen patients’ high blood pressure and fluid retention. In this case, patients are unable to produce enough urine, so more blood urea nitrogen builds up in the blood. From this point, patients should avoid high-salt foods such as bacon and salty condiments.
Secondly, develop a low-protein diet. Because urea is one product of protein breakdown, extra protein intake, especially low-quality protein, can increase BUN level. Thereby, kidney patients should modify their protein intake according to their illness condition.
Thirdly, consume some foods or drinks with the diuretic property. Some things such as bitter gourd, cucumber, dandelion root tea and nettle leaf tea can help increase patients’ urine output so that more urea can be discharged out of the body. Try to learn what foods and drinks are suitable for you.
Finally, arrange a diet plan for protecting kidneys. It is reported that foods, containing rich antioxidants like vitamin C and flavonoid, are able to protect remaining kidneys.
If you want to know what foods to eat and not eat in detail, you can leave a message to kidneyservice@hotmail.com or consult the doctor directly.
Tag: High BUN Level
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