March 2014 health wellness and nutrition supplement

Page 11

Additional risk factors include kidney stones, smoking, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Kidney disease kills over 90,000 Americans every year -- more than breast and prostate cancer combined.

KIDNEY

FA C T S

EvEryonE Has a DiffErEnt opinion about your HEaltH CarE.

Each kidney is about 5 inches (about 13 centimeters) long and about 3 inches (about 8 centimeters) wide — about the size of a computer mouse. First, blood is carried into the kidneys by the renal artery (anything in the body related to the kidneys is called “renal”). The average person has 1 to 1½ gallons of blood circulating through his or her body. The kidneys filter that blood as many as 400 times a day! More than 1 million tiny filters inside the kidneys remove the waste. Kidney receives 20-25% of all blood which is pumped by the heart. The body’s entire blood bring in circulates throughout the kidneys about 12 times per hour. Kidney filters about 2 gallons of blood in an hour. Kidney filters around two hundred quarts of blood each day. The majority regular causes of kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure. What a good number of people don’t understand is that having over-the-counter pain-relieving medicines, can also effect in kidney disorder. 1 in 9 American adults has kidney disease -and most don’t know it.

WE HavE tHE faCts. It’s hard to know where to turn when faced with confusing health care information. With our free treatment summaries, you can easily compare your options—online or on your mobile phone. So you’ll be prepared to discuss them with your health care provider. www.ahrq.gov/treatmentoptions TexT Compare To 22764

Major risk factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, family history of kidney failure and being age 60 or older.

AHRQ_Consumer_Ad_Magazine_B_Broad_Yang_5_5X10_25.indd 1

12/2/13 12:17 PM

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM | MARCH 2014 | HEALTH WELLNESS & NUTRITION SUPPLEMENT HS-11


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.