A healthy lifestyle that includes limited salt and potassium intake, quitting smoking and increased physical activity besides awareness can help not only in checking kidney degeneration but also prevent it, health experts said here.

Kidney diseases occur in five stages with kidney failure being the last one. But it’s possible to completely treat the disease in the first and second stages itself, if detected early, said Dr Himanshu Verma, HoD (Nephrology), Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, in his presentation on the last day of the virtual webinar ‘Kidney Manthan’ organised by AIMIL Pharmaceuticals.

“Hence, it is important that people are made aware about causes and ways to prevent renal diseases,” he said.

The event spanning six days saw participation of at least 35 health experts from allopathy and ayurveda from across the country.

They discussed threadbare causes, challenges and how preventive measures like lifestyle changes can ensure health of the vital organ.

The experts also deliberated on how alternative Ayurvedic medicines like herbal formulation NeeriKFT have the potential to heal the damaged cells of an ailing kidney.

In this connection, they cited various studies that have proved efficacy of the NeeriKFT, composed of time-tested herbs like punarnava, varuna, giloy, gokhru and palash in protecting the kidney.

Jamia Hamdard’s latest study is a case in point.

Published in the Journal of Biosciences, the research has indicated that the ayurvedic formulation is effective in regulating the functions of at least 6 gene variants causing kidney dysfunction.

Stating that patients with diabetes and high blood pressure would be at highest risk of kidney disease, Dr Verma who touched upon the topic ‘Conservative management in chronic kidney disease’ further recommended keeping the body mass index (BMI) between 20-25, walking for 30 minutes every day for five days a week, reducing the consumption of pain-relieving medicines, balanced intake of water and quitting smoking etc. as effective ways to protect the vital organ.

Dr Sanchit Sharma, executive director of AIMIL Pharmaceuticals, said the outcome of the six days long churning on the vital topic, which is assuming endemic proportion, shows we need to adopt an integrated approach towards kidney healthcare. Also, as more and more people are looking towards Ayurveda for holistic treatment of various kinds of diseases, it is important that players in the sector focus on evidence-based research.

Chronic kidney disease is the sixth fastest-growing cause of death globally and around 1.7 million people are estimated to die annually because of acute kidney injury globally. In India, it is estimated that a population of over 7.8 million people are living with chronic kidney diseases. Those with diabetes, hypertension and obesity are also prone to kidney diseases, as per the health experts.