26/02/2026
THURSDAY THROWBACK Repost of our life-saving series on Kidney Diseases. Here is part 1. Please read, share and ask questions or add your comments below.
Drinking several bottles of beer can be pleasant and you really enjoy them, but do you know that the body manages to remove an excess of what is needed?
Some days, we don't just drink a brand of alcohol, but also a cup of tea, milk, coffee, all of which yield several classes of nutrients into our blood system. Sometimes we drink too much of them, so do you know how our body restores us to normality?
Our body does that with the help of a pair of bean-shaped structures called KIDNEYS.
This new series is about but we want you to have a basic understanding of kidneys before we go into the diseases associated with it.
The kidneys are pair of organs on either side of your spine, situated below your ribs and behind your belly. Each kidney is about 4 or 5 inches long, roughly the size of a large fist.
The job of the kidneys is to filter your blood. They remove wastes, control the body's fluid balance, and keep the right levels of electrolytes e.g. Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc.
All the blood in your body passes through your kidneys about 40 times a day. Blood comes into the kidney, waste gets removed, and if needed, salt, water, and minerals are adjusted. The filtered blood goes back into the body. Waste gets turned into urine, which collects in a funnel-shaped structure called the pelvis and drains down a tube (the ureter) to the bladder.
It is possible to have only 10% of the kidneys working, and you may not notice any symptoms or problems. Kidney disease is when blood stops flowing into a kidney and causes all or part of it to die. When that happens, kidneys lose their function and result in several complications in the body.
Now, you have a brief idea of what the kidneys are and what they do for us. In the next health update, we will show you the common pre-disposing factors of kidney diseases.
Stay tuned and drop your questions in the comments below.
