Drinking Alcohol with Chronic Kidney Disease

Since alcohol can impact specific medications you are taking, it is important to be careful not to mix the two. Talk to your doctor to understand the impact alcohol has on the medications you’re taking. Alcohol can cause changes in the function of the kidneys and make them less able to filter your blood. In addition to filtering blood, your kidneys do many other important jobs. One of these jobs is keeping the right amount of water in your body.

The investigators noted increased plasma and extracellular fluid volume 1 week after chronic alcohol ingestion, and these volume expansions persisted for the remaining 7 weeks of the study. Similar alterations have been found in body fluid volumes among chronic alcoholic patients. The primary outcomes were the incidence of proteinuria (dipstick urinary protein ≥ 1) and incidence of low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR; rate2; decreased from the baseline eGFR by 25%). The aim of the present study was to explore the association between alcohol consumption and chronic kidney disease in a Chinese population. Yes, because drinking excessive alcohol frequently increases the risk of kidney stones substantially.

Preventing Kidney Damage and Disease

However, it can have inconsistent effects, exciting users under some conditions and sedating users under other conditions. Excitement, typically at lower doses, may be due to alcohol suppressing the inhibitory parts of the brain. Functions such as breathing, speech, thought, memory, and movement can be impacted by consuming alcohol.

Their results show not only how alcohol disrupts homeostasis but also how the body reacts to restore it. Following moderate alcohol consumption—about 24 oz—of nonalcoholic beer with 1 milliliter of alcohol per kilogram of body weight added, the investigators noted several effects. Alcohol-induced urination reduced the subjects’ plasma volume, resulting in an increased concentration of plasma sodium. In addition, the subjects’ blood pressure and plasma potassium concentration decreased. These changes in fluid volume, electrolyte balance, and blood pressure may have stimulated the activity of hormones to return body fluid volume and composition back to normal, which occurred soon after consumption.

Alcohol and Kidney Disease

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that most American adults drink alcohol. Too often, some of these regular drinkers have more than five drinks at one time. In fact, about a quarter of drinkers reported they had done this on at least one day in the past year. “Binge” drinking has harmful effects on the kidney that can even lead alcohol and kidneys to acute kidney failure. This often goes away after a time, but it can occasionally lead to lasting kidney damage. The amount of alcohol being consumed is an important factor when it comes to kidney health.The general consensus of what makes up one drink is twelve ounces of beer, one glass of wine, or a 1.5 ounces shot of liquor.