Vitamin D and IgA Nephropathy

What is the best vitamin for IgA Nephropathy patients? Can we take vitamin D with IgA Nephropathy? Vitamin D has shown to be beneficial in reducing proteinuria in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD0, so many IgA Nephropathy patients wonder if they can take vitamin D to deal with their illness condition.

What is vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids responsible for intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphate.

How does vitamin D reduce proteinuria?

According to clinical experiments, vitamin D helps to reduce protein in urine mainly through two ways. One is to suppress the rennin-angiotension-system which can elevates blood pressure and cause excess leakage of protein in urine. Another way is to inhibit the inflammation in kidney. Inflammation is a response of a tissue to injury, often injury caused by invading pathogens. Inflammation in kidney also can cause kidney damages and proteinuria.

Is vitamin D helpful for IgA Nephroapthy?

In IgA Nephropathy, although proteinuria because of kidney damages, in turn it accelerates illness condition to kidney failure. Reduction in proteinuria is a key protective factor for kidney function, so from this point of view, vitamin D is helpful for IgA Nephropathy patients to control their illness condition.

Besides, when IgA Nephropathy develops to advanced stage, patients will be at high risk for bone problems like bone pain, bone fracture and osteoporosis. Timely vitamin D supply can help to lower their risk for bone problems.

Foods high in vitamin D

In our daily life, there are many foods high in vitamin D like cod liver oil, fish, fortified cereals, caviar, oysters, eggs, mushrooms, whole milk and so on. Although these foods are beneficial for IgA Nephropathy, some of them may do harms for patients in other ways. Therefore, it is of great importance for IgA Nephropathy patients to get the permission of their doctors before they eat these foods. (With different illness condition, IgA Nephropathy need to make different diet changes and what is the proper diet for you? Please feel free to consult our consultant online)