How Probiotics Benefit Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease
Feb 21, 2022
Contact: Audrey Hu audrey.hu@wecistanche.com
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common chronic disease that seriously affects the health of the Chinese people. The prevalence rate among adults in my country is 10.8%. If it is not treated in time and effectively, chronic kidney disease will eventually progress to uremia. Society creates a huge economic burden.
Recent studies have shown that the disturbance of intestinal flora in patients with chronic kidney disease gradually worsens with the deterioration of renal function; probiotic bacteria in the intestine decrease while pathogenic bacteria increase, decompose nitrogen-containing substances in the intestine to produce a large number of uremic toxins and activate the inflammation and immune system. , releasing inflammatory factors, oxygen-free radicals and other toxins, causing damage to the kidneys and other organs.
Therefore, the use of probiotics to restore the normal microbiome of the gut may be a potential therapeutic approach to treat chronic kidney disease, delay the progression of kidney disease, and alleviate symptoms and complications of uremia.
benefit of desertliving cistanche
Let’s first take a look at the concept of intestinal flora. There are about 1,000 kinds and 100 trillion bacteria inhabiting the intestinal tract, which is the largest micro-ecosystem in the human body. The bacteria in the intestinal tract can be divided into harmful bacteria according to their effects on the human body. , neutral bacteria, and most importantly, beneficial bacteria. Under normal circumstances, different flora in the gut can restrict each other to form a dynamic balance. They are involved in mediating and participating in the human body's digestion, metabolism, immune regulation, energy conversion, maintenance of intestinal mucosal defense functions, etc., and maintaining the health of the body.
Probiotics refer to active microorganisms that, when ingested in sufficient quantities, can colonize the human body and change the composition of the human flora to benefit human health. There are many kinds of such probiotics, including bifidobacteria, lactobacilli, bifidobacteria, yeast, lactobacillus bulgaricus, etc.
At present, the probiotics approved for human use in my country mainly include seven major genera: Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Saccharomyces boulardii, Enterococcus, Bacillus and Fusobacterium. Common probiotic preparations include the following: Probiotics can alter the intestinal micro ecological environment, inhibit inflammatory responses, reduce intestinal mucosal damage, repair damaged intestinal epithelial cell-to-cell junctions, and improve intestinal physical barrier function. At the same time, probiotics can competitively enhance the absorption of nutrients, reduce the accumulation of uremic toxins and ammonium salt products, and improve water and electrolyte disorders and acid-base disorders.
In addition, probiotics can also reduce the binding of pathogens or pathological antigens to intestinal mucosal receptors through their space-occupying effect, reduce the invasion of exogenous pathogens and the activation of endogenous pathogens, and enhance the body's immune defense. ability.
1 Improve patient malnutrition
CKD patients suffer from malnutrition such as hypoalbuminemia, electrolyte imbalance, and anemia due to metabolic disorders. The current study shows that probiotic treatment can improve the nutritional status of patients by reducing the inflammatory state and translocation of gut microbiota.
Foreign studies have shown that supplementing yogurt containing probiotics can be beneficial to the treatment of CKD patients. Compared with the control group, patients who eat yogurt containing probiotics for a long time have lower urinary microproteins, relatively stable renal function and better nutritional status.
Domestic studies have also shown that probiotic supplementation can increase plasma albumin levels, increase upper arm circumference and triceps skinfold thickness in CKD patients, and improve the overall nutritional status of patients. Therefore, long-term supplementation of probiotics can be considered in the traditional dietary management of chronic kidney disease.
2 Relieve symptoms of uremia
Clinical trials have confirmed that probiotics can reduce the level of uremic toxins in the serum of patients with chronic kidney disease, reduce inflammation, improve endotoxemia, and improve the quality of life.
The blood urea level decreased by about 10% compared with the baseline value in patients with advanced CKD after treatment with probiotic preparations. Treatment with probiotics in non-dialysis CKD stage 5 patients also significantly reduced the levels of the uremic toxins p-cresol sulfate (PCS) and indoxyl sulfate (IS).
3 Reduce inflammation
Patients with chronic kidney disease, especially those with uremia, can lead to a micro-inflammatory state due to many factors such as the disease itself, dialysis, endotoxemia, intestinal flora translocation, and malnutrition, which affects the prognosis of patients. Studies have shown that supplementation with probiotic preparations can improve microinflammatory status in maintenance hemodialysis patients.
The levels of inflammatory factors, white blood cell counts, C-reactive protein, such as interleukin 1B, interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor and endotoxin in hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients treated with probiotics were significantly reduced, and the micro-inflammatory response in the patients was weakened. The general condition of the patient improved markedly, and the symptoms of anemia also improved.
4 Delay disease progression
Recent studies also suggest that probiotic supplementation may delay the progression of CKD. Studies have shown that probiotic supplementation can significantly improve blood sugar, blood lipid status and renal function in elderly patients with diabetic nephropathy, reduce the level of inflammatory response, and significantly reduce the risk of disease progression in elderly patients with diabetic nephropathy.
Cistanche has the anti-inflammatory effect
Our recent study suggests that the serum IgA concentration in patients with IgA nephropathy is related to the intestinal flora, and probiotic supplementation may be beneficial to improve the immune abnormalities in patients with IgA nephropathy.
Precautions for taking probiotics
Because probiotics are easily inactivated when exposed to high temperatures, they cannot be prepared or heated with hot water. Taking probiotics 20 minutes after a meal, the stomach acid concentration is lower at this time, which is beneficial for the probiotics to enter the intestine alive.
When taking antibiotics, the interval between taking probiotics and antibiotics should be longer than 3 hours. And it should not be used with adsorption drugs, such as colloidal bismuth pectin, tannic acid preparations, medicinal charcoal or montmorillonite powder and other drugs. If you must use it, it is recommended to leave it at an interval of more than 2 hours. It is better to take it with foods containing cellulose, oligosaccharides and other prebiotics (such as honey, pears, etc.). Take it in divided doses (such as once in the morning and once in the evening), and keep taking it for a period of time (at least 7-15 consecutive days, or even longer).
In addition, patients with kidney disease can insist on taking Cistanche deserticola and its products for a long time. As a valuable Chinese herbal medicine that nourishes the kidneys, Cistanche deserticola has good effects on protecting and improving kidney function, preventing kidney damage and treating kidney diseases.
Note： The traditional Chinese medicinal herb cistanche (also known as the "dragon herb" and "desert ginseng"), grows only in the arid and warm deserts. As one of the nine immortal herbs, Cistanche (cistanche tubulosa/cistanche deserticola/desertliving cistanche/cistanche salsa)contents with rich effective ingredients such as echinacoside, acteoside, total phenylethanoid glycosides, flavonoids, polysaccharides, etc. these effective ingredients made cistanche a precious nourishing herb and food material for people's immunity, internal organs, and brain cells and neurons, etc. The modern pharmacological studies have confirmed the following effects of cistanche(benefits of cistanche): improve immunity; improve sexual function and kidney function; anti-fatigue; anti-aging; improve memory; anti-Parkinson's disease; anti-Alzheimer's disease; antioxidation; ease-constipation; anti-inflammatory; promote bone growth, whitening skin; protect liver; etc.
