Your Kidneys
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Your Kidneys

  • Back view of a person with a kidney in his hand.
    Kidneys are a critical part of your health.

    They “clean” your blood by removing wastes from the body through your urine, help your body to make red blood cells, and regulate blood pressure. Their function in maintaining your body’s health is as important as your heart or your lungs.

    Normally, people have two kidneys, one on either side of the spine under the lower ribs. They are reddish brown in colour and shaped like kidney beans. Each kidney is about the size of your clenched fist.

    This section describes your kidneys and kidney disease and introduces some medical terms that you may not have heard before. Our Kidney Health A to Z provides definitions to help you understand and learn more about your kidneys.

  • Understanding Your Kidneys
    Every minute, about one litre of blood (one fifth of all the blood pumped by the heart) enters the kidneys through the renal arteries.
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  • What is Kidney Disease?
    Kidney disease describes a variety of conditions and disorders that affect the kidneys. Most kidney disease attack the filtering units of the kidneys—the nephrons—and damage their ability to eliminate wastes and excess fluids.
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  • Detection, Warning Signs & Symptoms
    Sometimes even people with serious kidney disease have no symptoms. There are two key tests used to detect kidney damage and to assess how well your kidneys are functioning at removing toxins and waste products from your blood: a blood test and a urine test.
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  • Risk Factors
    Recent estimates suggest that as many as two million Canadians have chronic kidney disease or are at risk — most are unaware of it.
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  • Are You At Risk?
    Did you know that 1 in 10 Canadians has kidney disease? Take 10 minutes to answer these 10 questions. The answers will help you know if you should talk to your doctor about having your kidney function checked.
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