How watermelon affects kidney health? Is it good or bad for the kidney health? To know the answer, you should have a well understanding about kidney function and nutrition of watermelon. Let’s talk about this topic in this article.

In normal condition, our healthy kidneys are responsible for removing waste products and toxins from the body. And they also keep the electrolyte, water and acid-base balance. In addition, they are in charge of producing urine and promoting the erythropoietin which is responsible for producing red blood cells. Once the kidney gets damage, the kidney will lose the ability and can’t work properly. According to different damage degrees of kidney, patients may have no obvious symptoms in the early stage, while others may have numerous symptoms, like swelling, high blood pressure, proteinuria, hyperkalemia, urine changes and so on in the moderate or severe condition.

How does watermelon affect kidney health?

As a matter of fact, watermelon is recommended to the early stage renal disease patients. It contains rich water. The rich water could help to relieve thirst. The sugar and sodium content from watermelon have diuretic effect and help to remit inflammation of the kidneys.

However, if your kidneys are damaged moderately or severely, watermelon is not suggested to you. Why? Because watermelon contains rich potassium. The kidneys of patients with advanced kidney disease are often unable to remove potassium from their blood. If serum potassium levels rise above 5.0 mEq/L, people will need low potassium diets because high potassium can cause irregular heartbeats.

In addition, diabetics should stay away from this fruit. And diabetes is one of leading causes of kidney disease. And eating too much watermelon will increase the blood sugar, causing the metabolic disorders and involving liver health. What’s more, some people may develop allergic reactions to atermelon consumption, like mild to severe rash, facial swelling or anaphylaxis.

Through the above analysis, we can see that you can determine to eat watermelon or avoid by your degree of your kidney damage and your own illness condition. If you unclear whether you can eat or not, please talk with our doctors online or leave a message below, you will get an individualized advice. Good luck!