Some of the new trend diets like the Atkins Diet are encouraging low-carbohydrate, high-protein consumption for losing weight. While you may lose weight over the short term with a high-protein diet, it can eventually lead to weight gain and it can damage your kidneys if you have existing kidney problems. Carbohydrates are part of a balanced diet and if you want to remain healthy it is important to eat the recommended daily amount of them.
Role of Kidneys
Kidneys serve a number of different roles in your body, but one of their most important functions is filtering your blood. When there are excess nutrients such as calcium or potassium in the bloodstream, the kidneys filter them out and they are expelled through the urine. If you eat a high-protein diet, the kidneys are in charge of getting rid of all of the excess proteins that your body doesn't know what to do with. The kidneys also regulate blood pressure and blood acidity and stimulate red blood cell production. Without properly functioning kidneys, your body cannot continue working, and that is why dialysis or kidney transplants are necessary for people in the late stages of kidney disease.
Kidneys
Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital have made a connection between an excess protein intake and an accelerated decline of kidney function in women who are already suffering from a kidney disease. Out of all the women in the study with below-average-functioning kidneys, a quarter of them experienced an accelerated decline in kidney health throughout the study. None of the women with good functioning kidneys were affected by a high-protein diet. If your kidneys are working properly, a high-protein diet should not harm them, but if your kidneys are already having problems, a diet rich in protein may put excess strain on them and speed up their degradation.
High-Protein Sources
Certain foods contain such great levels of protein that it is easy to get too much in your diet if you consistently eat them. Three foods with very high protein levels are soynuts, sunflower seeds and peanuts. A single ¼-cup serving of soynuts contains 17 g of protein, which is about 30 percent of the daily recommended amount of protein for someone who weights 150 lbs. Sunflower seeds contain 8 g of protein per 2 tbsp. and peanuts contain 7 g per ounce. Although the amount of protein contained in a single serving of these foods is a little over 12 percentage points toward the daily recommended amount, the servings are such small amounts that most people will consume several in one sitting.
Recommended Daily Allowance
The recommended daily allowance of protein is based off of your body weight. The more you weigh, the more protein you are supposed to consume every day. For every pound of body weight, you should consume about 0.36 g of protein daily. It is important to stay around this amount because if you go too high your kidneys will become overwhelmed and if you go too low your muscles won't get the protein they need to function properly
