Is Vitamin A Bad For CKD Stage 3

For stage 3 CKD patients, approximately 50% kidney functions have been lost and patients have developed a series of symptoms and signs. CKD patients tend to have high levels of vitamin A because their impaired kidneys can not remove this fat-soluble vitamin outside the body. Too much vitamin A in the body can be harmful and toxic to the patients.

For adult CKD patients, the symptoms of vitamin A toxicity develop over long period of time. In the early stage patients can have poor appetite, loss of body weight without trying. Later other symptoms can occur including dry skin, hair loss, bone pains, enlarged liver and spleen or even cirrhosis.

The harms of excess vitamin A are more obvious in children patients. It can also affect the children’s normal growth and development. If the gravida takes excessive vitamin A during pregnancy, it can even cause congenital malformations in the children such as malformations in their urinary system or cardiovascular system.

Excess vitamin A can cause high calcium in the urine, high uric acid. The blood system will be affected. There will be low white blood cell, low prothrombin and patients will develop anemia, nosebleeding, gum bleeding, etc.

Nutrition is one important aspect for CKD patients especially when their illness conditions have progressed into the 3th stage or even more advanced stage. Proper nutrition helps ease symptoms, protect residual kidney functions and slow down illness progression. For CKD patients, they often have deficiency of various vitamins, therefore they need to have additional supplement through foods or even drugs. However it is recommended that a renal dietitian is consulted to make clear what kind of the vitamins the patient lacks and what kind of vitamins that he does not need or should avoid according to the patient’s specific conditions so as to have proper diets and nutritions.