Here are some kidney basics, thanks for this information from the Better Health Channel
Summary:
Kidneys are a special filter system for your body.
Kidneys remove waste products from the blood and produce urine.
Kidneys control the levels of many substances in the blood.
Kidneys help to control your blood pressure.
Early detection of kidney disease can be life-saving.
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Here is part of the article to be found on the Better Health Channel website:
Kidneys are a filter system
The main job of the kidneys is to remove waste from the blood and return the cleaned blood back to the body. Each minute about one litre of blood – one-fifth of all the blood pumped by the heart – enters the kidneys through the renal arteries. After the blood is cleaned, it flows back into the body through the renal veins.
Each kidney contains about one million tiny units called nephrons. Each nephron is made up of a very small filter, called a glomerulus, which is attached to a tubule. As blood passes through the nephron, fluid and waste products are filtered out. Much of the fluid is then returned to the blood, while the waste products are concentrated in any extra fluid as urine (wee).
The urine flows through a tube called the ureter
into the bladder. Urine passes from the bladder out of the body through a tube called the urethra. The kidney usually makes one to two litres of urine every day depending on your build, how much you drink, the temperature and the amount of exercise you do.
A healthy kidney can greatly increase its work capacity. With two healthy kidneys, each kidney performs 50 per cent of the normal kidney function. If one kidney is lost, the other kidney can enlarge and provide up to 75 per cent of the normal kidney function (the work of one and a half normally functioning kidneys).
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