Furthermore, drinkers often like to eat more pickled food and eat less vegetables and fruits, which increases the consumption of salt and cholesterol 119. A relatively low incidence of cardiovascular disease was found in middle-aged French men, despite a relatively high dietary intake of saturated fats. They work to keep the right balance of chemicals and electrolytes in the blood and help maintain normal blood pressure. Alcohol can impact these functions, as drinking affects your kidneys in many ways. For example, alcohol causes dehydration, which decreases blood flow to the kidneys and makes it more difficult for them to do their job. If you or someone you love is struggling with alcohol use, knowing how it can affect kidney function and health is important.
Chronic Kidney Damage Due to Binge Drinking

Below are some answers to frequently asked questions about alcohol-induced kidney damage. According to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), a person should consult a doctor if they experience symptoms consistent with kidney disease. This article describes how alcohol may harm the kidneys and considers the level of alcohol consumption necessary to cause harm. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that there’s no safe level of alcohol consumption. For those in need of a more focused and intensive recovery journey, our intensive outpatient programs provide the necessary structure and depth. Additionally, we can help in connecting individuals with detoxification services across California for those looking to streamline severe alcohol withdrawal.
Myth: You should avoid consuming more fluids after drinking alcohol
Wine and beer have been shown to be the most beneficial when it comes to reducing kidney stone risk. The key here is that alcohol can otherwise be dehydrated if you do not drink enough water to replenish what you lose from alcohol. We will cover the nutritional aspects of how alcohol can effect the kidneys.

Can Drinking Too Much Be Harmful to Your Kidneys?
This suppression leads to increased urine production, a process that, while seemingly harmless, can rapidly deplete the body’s Drug rehabilitation fluid reserves. This mechanism underscores the immediate and direct link between alcohol intake and dehydration, setting the stage for kidney stress. Other studies found that alcohol combined with energy drinks, caffeine, or soft drinks can disturb the physiological redox reaction and cause lipoperoxidation in the liver and nephrotoxicity 30,118.

Drinking can make it harder to control your does drinking alcohol affect your kidneys blood sugar levels, which increases your risk of diabetic kidney disease. Having more than three drinks in a day (or more than seven per week) for women, and more than four drinks in a day (or more than 14 per week) for men, is considered “heavy” drinking. Heavy drinking on a regular basis has been found to double the risk for kidney disease. Drinking alcohol can affect many parts of your body, including your kidneys. A little alcohol—one or two drinks now and then—usually has no serious effects. Although the mechanism of alcoholic myopathy is not fully understood, it is likely that disruption of mitochondria-related energy homeostasis is important in promoting muscle cell (myocyte) injury (Eisner et al. 2014).
Newly diagnosed with CKD
- Symptoms of kidney damage resulting from excessive alcohol consumption can manifest in many different ways.
- This suppression leads to increased urine production, a process that, while seemingly harmless, can rapidly deplete the body’s fluid reserves.
- If your disease has advanced to an extreme point, and your kidneys have ceased their functioning, you may need to undergo regular kidney dialysis treatments.
- These bean-shaped organs are the body’s natural filtration system, working 24/7 to eliminate toxins, balance electrolytes, and regulate blood pressure.
In turn, unhealthy eating or missing prescriptions (especially for blood pressure or diabetes) can damage your kidneys indirectly. Alcohol use also increases the risk of accidents or injuries, which can lead to hospitalizations, infections or additional kidney stress. Healthy kidneys produce erythropoietin, a hormone that supports red blood cell production. When kidney function declines, anemia can develop, leading to persistent tiredness, https://broshanindia.com/how-to-deal-with-alcohol-cravings-16-effective/ weakness, and reduced stamina. Excessive alcohol intake can worsen these effects by dehydrating the body and placing additional strain on the organs. Regular medical check-ups are important for monitoring kidney function, particularly for individuals with risk factors.