One Out of Every Seven People Has Kidney Disease

While there are approximately 500 million kidney patients in the world, 1 out of every 7 people in Turkey has kidney disease. Stating that diabetes is one of the most important causes of kidney diseases, Internal Medicine and Nephrology Specialist Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı stated that the most important step taken by Turkey in preventing kidney diseases is to limit the amount of salt in bread.

Expressing that the second Thursday of March is celebrated as "World Kidney Day" every year, and this year's theme is "Promise Your Kidney", Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı, Head of the Department of Internal Medicine from Yeditepe University Faculty of Medicine, continued her words as follows: “The second Thursday of March is celebrated as World Kidney Day every year, but this is not a celebration, but an awareness day.” Noting that the kidneys did not show any symptoms until they lost 70 percent of their functions, she said, “For this reason, the chance of going to the doctor or getting an early diagnosis is lost. The theme of World Kidney Day this year is 'Promise your kidney'. I understand that we should protect it from harmful effects and not use things that will harm our kidneys. We should not do things that will impair kidney function.”

“Approximately 500 Million People in the World and 1 out of every 7 People in Turkey Have Kidney Disease”

Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı, also referring to the data on kidney patients, said, “We know that approximately 500 million people in the world have kidney disease. In Turkey, 1 out of every 7 people has kidney disease. This is a very high rate. Another important point is that a significant part of those with kidney disease is not aware of their disease. Because the kidneys do not give any symptoms until they lose 70 percent of their function.”

“We Are Almost in the First Place in Diabetes Increase Rate”

Drawing attention to the importance of nutrition in the prevention of kidney diseases, Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı continued her words as follows: “We actually live in a very good geography, but when we look at the rate of increase in diabetes in our country, we are almost in the first place. We are a society that gains weight very rapidly and type 2 diabetes is increasing very rapidly. Diabetes is one of the most important causes of kidney failure. Approximately 40 percent of kidney patients in our country undergo dialysis due to diabetes. We know that among the preventable causes of death, according to the data of the World Health Organization, smoking is the first, and hypertension is the second. Both of these cause chronic kidney failure. This is a process that impairs the quality of life and causes loss of life. We can count chronic kidney failure in the 7th place among the diseases with a high risk of death despite the correct and good treatment in our country.”

Attention to Protein Powders

Yeditepe University Hospital Internal Medicine and Nephrology Specialist Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı also mentioned factors such as protein powders used by some athletes and smoking in kidney diseases and continued her words as follows: “In order to protect our kidneys, the first thing we need to do is to avoid uncontrolled use of medications and smoking. Also, lately, we see that protein powders are consumed in order to build better muscles and a high-protein diet is preferred. However, while trying to reach better muscles, the health of the kidneys may deteriorate. Kidney failure affects the quality of life very much and actually leads to processes that will prevent people from doing sports. However, kidney failure also causes muscle atrophy. On the one hand, while trying to build muscle, we can lose our kidneys.”

We Consume Twice the Recommended Amount of Salt

Emphasizing that salt consumption is also very high in our country, Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı said, “The World Health Organization recommends 5-6 grams of salt, and we consume over 10 grams. When I ask my patients, they say they do not consume salt, but the food is still very salty.” Drawing attention to the practices initiated to reduce salt consumption in recent years, Prof. Dr. Kantarcı concluded her words as follows: “One of the things that needed to be done was to reduce the salt content in the bread and it was done. It became successful too. However, bread with more salt is still preferred. It is very important to prevent obesity in children. Childhood obesity increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future. Type 2 diabetes also means being open to kidney failure and other diabetes complications in the future. In order to prevent all these, it is very important that children can play on the street again, not stay in front of a computer, tablet, or phone, that is, they should spend time with sports and activities. We should accustom our children to exercise from an early age. Because an individual who exercises has a very low chance of developing type 2 diabetes in the future. However, it is necessary to save children from packaged products in canteens. It is necessary to obtain nutritious meals with which they can consume more fresh food and vegetables under school conditions.”