PKD Clinic: Watermelon and Polycystic Kidney Disease
Do you have Polycystic Kidney Disease? Do you love to eat watermelon? If so, whether PKD patients can eat watermelon may be one question that you want to make clear. However, this question isn’t easy to the answer, because it is based on your condition.
Is watermelon good for PKD patients?
According to the analysis of dietitian at PKD Clinic, watermelon comprises about 91% of water, 6% of sugar and 3% of other nutritions such as protein, potassium and phosphorus. Just because of these substances in watermelon, it decides some PKD patients can eat this fruit, while some others should avoid.
Who can consume watermelon?
In the early stage of Polycystic Kidney Disease, patients’ kidney function still keeps in a high level, but they are at the risk of high blood pressure. In this case, watermelon is good for them. On one hand, the high content of potassium in watermelon can help regulate the effect of sodium in blood pressure and bring down hypertension. On the other hand, a good amount of potassium is able to increase the kidney output so as to clean toxic depositions in the kidneys.
Who has to restrict the amount of watermelon?
As PKD progresses, kidney functioning tissues will be replaced by enlarged kidney cysts gradually. When the kidneys are damaged severely, potassium and phosphorus are two minerals that should be commonly limited.
Generally, every 100g of watermelon contains 112mg of potassium and 11mg of phosphorus. With severe kidney damage, PKD patients should eat 1500 to 2700 mg of potassium per day and 800 to 1100 mg of phosphorus every day. From this analysis, we can know the approximate amount of watermelon that patients with advanced kidney disease can consume. However, if they have edema or abnormal blood tests, the amount need to reduce.
If you don’t know how much watermelon you can consume, welcome to consult our doctors and we are glad to help you find the exact answer.
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