Diabetic Nephropathy
Diabetic Nephropathy is the name given to damage to the kidney resulting from diabetes mellitus. While diabetics are at risk of increased episodes of urinary tract infection and also kidney problems due to atherosclerosis affecting the blood supply, the major problems are due to damage to the glomerulus, which occurs in 30 to 40 per cent of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, and 15 per cent of those with none insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Initially it causes the loss of small amounts of protein in the urine - called micro albuminuria - and this progresses over time and may result in chronic renal failure. The damage cannot be reversed, but its progression may be slowed by attention to the control of the diabetes, blood pressure and lipid levels, together with dietary manipulation to reduce the level of protein, particularly animal protein, which appears to damage the kidney. Smoking should also be discouraged (it should have been discouraged in diabetics, who are at risk of heart disease, anyway).
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