To keep your body functioning properly, waste products and excess fluid must be removed on a regular basis. To do this, you have two bean-shaped kidneys… each about the size of your fist… located on either side of your spine just below your rib cage.
Your kidneys filter and return to the bloodstream about 190 litres of blood every day. In doing so they produce up to 2 litres of urine that contain the waste products your body needs to get rid of.
This article takes a look at kidney problems caused by diabetes. It is part of a series in which you can learn the things that you can do each day and during each year to stay healthy and prevent diabetes problems.
What do my kidneys do?
When our body produces “nitrogenous” wastes when it metabolizes proteins; and these need to be filtered from the blood. The kidneys function as the filters that remove nitrogenous waste from the blood. As filters, they extract the wastes and return clean filtered fluid to the body. The kidneys are largely made up of micro filters called glomeruli.
When kidneys are healthy, the arteries bring blood and wastes from the body into the kidneys, the glomeruli clean the blood, and the wastes and extra fluid go out via the urine. Filtered and cleansed blood leaves the kidneys and returns into the bloodstream through the veins.