Albumin is a protein that comes from your liver and circulates in your bloodstream. Your body relies on this protein to help grow, repair and maintain its tissues. If you have low blood levels of albumin, in most cases you can raise them by increasing your intake of high-quality dietary proteins, which have significant albumin content.
Basics
Albumin in your bloodstream helps transport a variety of important substances, including calcium, certain medications, the hormone progesterone, the protein bilirubin and important nutrients called fatty acids. Albumin also helps your blood maintain its osmotic pressure, which helps keep its water content from leaking through your blood vessels into surrounding tissue. Potential causes of low albumin levels include malnutrition, body inflammation, infection, liver damage or disease, kidney disease, a medical condition called metabolic acidosis and protein loss sustained during a blood-cleansing procedure called peritoneal dialysis.
Proteins and Protein Quality
High-quality dietary proteins contain a complete supply of substances called essential amino acids, which you need for good health but can't produce inside your body. For this reason, they are also referred to as complete proteins. Common sources of high-quality protein include beef, pork, fish, lamb, turkey, chicken and other types of meat. Other animal-based products --- including eggs, milk, yogurt and cheese --- also contain high-quality protein. In addition, you can get lower-quality protein from food sources such as beans, vegetables, nuts, grains and grain products. The proteins in these foods don't contain a complete supply of essential amino acids. For this reason, they're classified as incomplete proteins.
Poor Protein Absorption
While increases in your protein intake will typically lead to increases in your blood albumin levels, several medical conditions can decrease your body's ability to absorb albumin from food sources, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine's Medline Plus. These include Whipple's disease, Crohn's disease and celiac disease, also known as sprue or celiac sprue. You can also develop protein absorption problems in the aftermath of any weight-loss surgery that causes food to bypass part of your small intestine, where absorption takes place.
Considerations
Blood levels of albumin normally fall in a range between 3.4 and 5.4 g/dl. While most people can include various protein sources in their diets, people undergoing dialysis may need to restrict their intake of beans, nuts, vegetables and grains, according to kidney care website DaVita.com. These foods have relatively high amounts of the minerals phosphorus and potassium, which can degrade the effectiveness of the dialysis process when consumed in significant quantities. Consult your doctor and a registered nutritionist for more information on albumin and protein-rich foods. Also consult your doctor if you have a medical condition that decreases your body's ability to absorb protein.
