Proteinuria in Diabetic Nephropathy

Proteinuria with its another name protein urine refers to the presence of an excess of serum proteins in the urine. It is the only symptom of early stage Diabetic Nephropathy and always indicates that kidneys have been damaged.

Proteinuria is always regarded as the symbol that Diabetes progresses to Diabetic Nephropathy. In many cases, diabetics begin to protect their kidneys when there is protein in urine. Actually, it is far from enough for them to simply protect kidneys at that moment. Symptom of proteinuria is a spell of kidney damages in Diabetes, so aside from protecting healthy kidney tissues, what they need to do also includes controlling protein in urine and repairing kidney damages.

Protein, in normal cases, should be kept in our body by means of glomerular filtration membrane which can filter blood and meanwhile excrete wastes produced by our body. However, as this membrane is damaged by long-term high blood sugar, protein leaks out and is discharged with urine. This is the general process how proteinuria symptom is formed in Diabetic Nephropathy.

Proteinuria also can be called foamy urine, bubbly urine or frothy urine, as it always brings lots of foams in urine. Excessive proteinuria induce some other symptoms like swelling and malnutrition. Also, it worsen kidney damages and accelerate Diabetic Nephropathy progresses to kidney failure. Therefore, it is of primary importance to bring proteinuria under control for diabetics.

Proteinuria, as the dominant symptom of Diabetic Nephropathy, needs patients to follow a low protein diet so the kidneys are not stressed too much for filtering the proteins. However, it does not mean Diabetic Nephropathy patients can not ingest any protein. To meet the demand of daily physical activities, some high quality protein are needed, but the amount of it should be confined to a certain limit. Common foods with high quality protein include lean meat, milk, fish and egg white and so on.

Lastly, proteinuria symptom in Diabetic Nephropathy can be persistent or intermitted at very beginning and the severity of it reflects kidney damages directly. Therefore, instead of ignoring it, attaching enough more importance to it very necessary.