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  • Vegitarians, anyone know your Glomerular filtration rate (GFR)?
  • tpbiker
    Free Member

    Just been looking at my last blood test results and the estimated gfr was a very healthy 110. On the surface that’s pretty good however I’m now a vegitarian so not sure how that would affect it. Given it’s inversely related to creatine levels I assume that cutting out meat would totally void the the estimated gfr?

    Only reason I ask is that checking back for comparison, I had a bupa check at work in 2015 and the same test (as a meat eater) showed a result of 65, which is borderline. I was leading a particularly unhealthy lifestyle at the time and as I remember had a slight cold which may have affected it. Only other results I have to go on are from 2008 (96)

    Keen to know what other healthy vegies numbers are.

    nickc
    Full Member

    Doesn’t matter, there’s so many variables that effect kidney function; Age, gender, ethnicity, height, weight. Comparing your’s against some other random person who shares just one (diet) with you would be pointless, no?

    DrP
    Full Member

    Creatinine… Not creatine…

    And it’ll be affected by muscle mass i. E huge body builders have higher creatinine…
    As far as I know, being vege and healthy won’t affect it

    DrP

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    crikey
    Free Member

    About eGFR

    Read this, then find something else to worry about.

    tpbiker
    Free Member

    Doesn’t matter, there’s so many variables that effect kidney function; Age, gender, ethnicity, height, weight. Comparing your’s against some other random person who shares just one (diet) with you would be pointless, no

    E GFR is based on gender, age and ethnicity. The number should, according to sources online, be over 90. The fact mine is higher than it was suggests that my diet is affecting the calculation meaning its artificially high. Just wanted to know if other vegies had numbers well in excess of mine (which would indicate how my kidneys are functioning in comparison.

    And it’ll be affected by muscle mass i. E huge body builders have higher creatinine…
    As far as I know, being vege and healthy won’t affect it

    Drp, am I allowed to ask if you are actually a doctor? I’d so that’s reassuring!

    crikey
    Free Member

    It is important to bear in mind the following pitfalls and cautions when interpreting the eGFR:

    It is only an estimate of kidney function and a significant error is possible. The eGFR is most likely to be inaccurate in people at extremes of body type e.g. patients with limb amputations, severely malnourished and morbidly obese individuals
    Confidence intervals: The 90% confidence intervals are quite wide, e.g. 90% of patients will have a true GFR within 30% of their estimated GFR and 98% have measured values within 50% of the estimated value. For an individual patient, however, serial values will be much more consistent than this just as creatinine values are – e.g. a 20% fall in a patient’s eGFR is certain to reflect an important change.
    Look at the trend in eGFR – Identifying trends in eGFR is often more informative than one-off readings. i.e. a progressive fall in eGFR across serial measurements is more concerning than stable readings which don’t change over time.
    Race: Some racial groups may fit the equations used to calculate the eGFR less well. This is mainly because the datasets used to derive these equations were predominantly white and black US citizens. There is usually a need to apply a correction factor for Black people which varies depending on the formula used: add 21% if MDRD equation and 16% if CKD-EPI is used. In the UK population both the MDRD and CKD-EPI equations seem to work quite well.
    Not so good near normal: The equations used for estimating eGFR tend to underestimate normal or near-normal function therefore slightly low values (i.e. around the 60 ml/min/1.73m2 CKD “cut-off” level) should not be over-interpreted. In this situation repeat testing, looking for a progressive decline in renal function over time, or measurement of cystatin C (a different biomarker of kidney function) may be useful. Additional indicators or renal disease should also be sought in these patients – e.g. urinalysis looking for blood and protein, positive family history of renal disease etc… Routine reporting of eGFR values >90 is not recommended and many labs are now reporting all values over 60 as >60. Note, however, that a significant (e.g. 20%) rise in creatinine while eGFR is >60 may still be important as it will usually reflect a real change in GFR.
    Values can differ between laboratories. Creatinine measurements can differ significantly between laboratories depending on the methods used to measure it. Furthermore, different laboratories may use a different formula to calculate the eGFR further complicating comparison of eGFR measurements obtained from different laboratories.
    Creatinine level must be stable: eGFR calculations assume that the level of creatinine in the blood is stable over days or longer i.e. steady-state; they are not valid if it is changing. It is therefore not valid in patients with acute kidney injury or in patients receiving dialysis, for example.
    Age: MDRD and CKD-EPI equations are not valid for individuals under 18 years of age.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Drp, am I allowed to ask if you are actually a doctor?

    tpbiker
    Free Member

    It is important to bear in mind the following pitfalls and cautions when interpreting the eGFR

    Understand that. I was just interested to know if anyone on here who is a vegatarian and is of reasonably normal build has ever had theirs tested, and what it was. Appreciate all the various other factors, however would like to know if the eGFR for veggies tends to be higher or lower than the norm. Ie if several people tell me theirs is 150 then that tells me mine is probably a bit on the low side.

    olddog
    Full Member

    I have as part of full set of blood tests.

    Veggie for about 25 years. My creatinine level was 66 micro mol/l and GFR>90. Or 105 or 110 according to the link posted above.

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    Drp, am I allowed to ask if you are actually a doctor?

    He just plays one on TV

    tpbiker
    Free Member

    Bit of reading up clarifies a few things..mainly creatine intake in diet isn’t directly proportional to creatinine produced by the body, although it seems that those that have a vegatarian diet tend to have lower creatinine levels, by between 5 and 20%. I guess this would affect egfr, and some site do state egfr shouldn’t be used to estimate kidney function in veggies.


    @olddog
    your numbers are similar to mine. Do you mind me asking are you a fairly normal sized middle aged white bloke? Do you take any creatine supplements or is that number based purely on vegi diet?

    olddog
    Full Member

    @tpbiker I am 6’3″ 14st, about 15% body fat white mid 50s. I’m reasonably fit (cycling) and pretty strong (bouldering)

    I take no supplements. All my bloods were normal and healthy

    Are you worried that the test doesn’t work because it’s based on creatinine and that may be lower because you are a veggie?

    crikey
    Free Member

    …Such a strange thing to be obsessing about…

    tpbiker
    Free Member

    @olddog

    I’m only concerned because about 4 years ago i had a health checkup through work..at the time i was drinking too much, appalling diet, and about 3 stone more than I weigh now. My egfr was about 65 (Which indicates mild kidney disease) and i had slightly high uric acid levels. I never paid much attention to the results (as it wasnt called out as an issue) until i got the recent results and wanted to compare.

    Obviously my most recent score of 110 is fine, and im much fitter, in shape etc, but I am slightly concerned that it’s only increased as my diet has changed, and not because my kidneys are functioning properly.

    Such a strange thing to be obsessing about…

    If you think being concerned about my kidney function is strange then fair enough…

    TomB
    Full Member

    Might it just be that you were a little dry at your health check 4 yrs ago. I agree it’s a bit odd to be worried about a (currently) plumb-normal blood test result.

    crikey
    Free Member

    …again, being concerned about your kidney function by obsessing over a single blood result is a strange thing to do…

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    drinking too much, appalling diet, and about 3 stone more than I weigh now

    I would expect your kidney function to have improved then.

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