How Alcohol Affects Your Kidneys

Regular, heavy alcohol use can also be harmful to your kidneys over time. According to the National Kidney Foundation, regular heavy drinking can double the risk of chronic kidney disease. More than two drinks a day can increase your chance of developing high blood pressure. Drinking alcohol in these amounts is a risk factor for developing a sign of kidney disease, protein in the urine (albuminuria).

• However, alcohol consumption can have negative effects on the body and should generally be avoided if you want to keep your kidneys healthy.
• In contrast, some studies find that heavy alcohol consumption may predict poorer outcome in patients with chronic kidney diseases (Kronborg et al. 2008; Shankar et al. 2006; White et al. 2009).
• First, alcohol itself is considered a harmful substance that your kidneys have to work to filter out of your blood.

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This doubles your risk of developing chronic kidney disease or long-term kidney damage. In fact, IgA glomerulonephritis—acute inflammation of the kidney caused by an IgA immune response—is one of the most common types of primary glomerulonephritis worldwide (D’Amico 1987). This IgA-related kidney disease leads to clinical symptoms of renal injury and eventually progresses into renal failure (Amore et al. 1994; Bene et al. 1988; Pouria and Feehally 1999).

How Alcohol Affects Your Kidney Health

This subsequently promotes the conversion of H2O2 to the more reactive hydroxyl radicals, which cause damage in antioxidant capacities and mitochondria in renal cells [34,42,43]. Samadi et al. also suggested that ethanol induces depression of nephrin and podocin in podocytes, which contributes to renal injury and proteinuria and is mediated by oxidative stress [44]. Overall and subgroup analyses of the association between baseline alcohol consumption and decline in kidney function over 12 years in fully adjusted linear regression model.

Pain in Kidney or Urine Diseases

In general, the proximal part of the small intestine is the main site for alcohol absorption. Additionally, the stomach, large intestine, esophagus, and even the mouth can absorb small amounts of ethyl alcohol [21]. Y.J.L. designed the study; Y.J.L., S.C., and S.R.K. analyzed the data; Y.J.L. drafted the paper; S.C. And S.R.K. reviewed and revised the paper; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript. When experts talk about one drink, they are talking about one 12-ounce bottle of beer, one glass of wine (5 ounces), or one shot (1.5 ounces) of “hard liquor.”

• Thus, women need about nine cups of fluids, and men need about 13 to maintain adequate hydration.
• Studies suggest that several mechanisms produce ROS in alcohol-damaged organs, including the liver (Cederbaum et al. 2009), heart (Tan et al. 2012; Varga et al. 2015), and kidney (Latchoumycandane et al. 2015).
• “It is ideal, as best you can, to space out your fluid intake,” she says.
• In addition, the subjects’ blood pressure and plasma potassium concentration decreased.

Depending on who you ask, you might be told to drink a few glasses of red wine a day or to avoid alcohol altogether. The reasons for such recommendations are many, but, by and large, they tend to stem from a study someone read about or saw reported in the news. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of conditions that can occur in a person exposed to alcohol before birth. These conditions can affect each person in different ways and can range from mild to severe. People with FASDs can have lifelong effects, including problems with behavior and learning as well as physical problems.

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If you’ve recently been diagnosed with kidney cancer, your doctor may suggest certain lifestyle changes as part of your treatment plan. Excess alcohol can have harmful effects on the kidneys or worsen the side effects of your cancer treatment. The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that filter out waste from your blood. The kidneys also maintain the proper balance of fluid and electrolytes in the body. Hydronephrosis is the result of one or two swollen kidneys due to an accumulation of urine.

• Try swapping out alcoholic drinks for alternative beverages such as juices and teas.
• He and his collaborators then matched 24,477 pairs of patients who had been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder and prescribed gabapentinoids or acamprosate.

Medications to Avoid or Adjust If You Have Chronic Kidney Disease

Binge drinking can lead to a sudden drop in kidney function referred to as acute kidney failure. While acute kidney failure typically subsides over time, it can occasionally lead to lasting kidney damage. Drinking too much alcohol—even for a completely healthy person—can cause heart disease, liver disease, high blood pressure and kidney disease, in addition to many other medical problems. Drinking too much alcohol can also impair judgment—and this could interfere with decision making related to remembering to take medicines and following fluid and diet guidelines. A few studies have linked rhabdomyolysis and myoglobin toxicity with acute kidney injury, supporting a possible association among alcohol use, alcohol-related acute myopathy, and kidney damage.

“Binge” drinking has harmful effects on the kidney that can even lead to acute kidney failure. This often goes away after a time, but it can occasionally lead to lasting kidney damage. Alcohol consumption has been a part of socio-cultural practices worldwide. According to the World how does alcohol affect the kidneys Health Organization report in 2016, about 43% of the world’s population over 15 years old reported drinking in the past 12 months1. According to the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013), the drinking rate of men and women was 75.3% and 45.7%, respectively2.

• Such modified phospholipids may in turn activate immune cells called neutrophil granulocytes, which further aggravates oxidative stress, promoting a vicious cycle (Latchoumycandane et al. 2015).
• So, alcohol consumption can be a double-edged sword for patients with CKD, and any policy regarding alcohol consumption for them must be very cautious.
• The characteristics of the study design and other details of these studies are presented in Table 1.
• For some, it’s a struggle to hit even what Betz calls the “good starting point” of six-to-eight glasses of water a day.

Experimental studies suggest that heavy alcohol consumption induces IgA kidney disease (Smith et al. 1990). In addition, rats given intragastric infusions of a commercial whiskey (1.5 ml/100 gm body weight) 3 times a week along with a nutrient-deficient diet develop a more severe form of IgA nephropathy (Amore et al. 1994). In turn, heavy alcohol consumption is implicated in the development of these cardiac diseases, with chronic, heavy drinkers at higher risk than those who consume small to moderate amounts of alcohol.