Why is iron so important in kidney disease?
The answer is that iron can help with anemia (a lack of red blood cells), which is a common problem for people with kidney disease.
Anemia can be a significant problem for you as a kidney patient because of the nature of kidney disease.
The kidneys have four basic functions:
- Removal of waste products
- Maintain fluid balance
- Restore electrolyte and acid/base balance
- Stimulate the release of certain hormones
The dialysis process takes care of the first three functions. The hormone erythropoietin (or “EPO”) stimulates your bone marrow to produce red blood cells.
Your kidneys are responsible for 90% of erythropoietin (EPO) stimulation. Without EPO there is no red blood cell (RBC) production. Another essential element to red blood cell production is iron. You must have enough iron stored in your body for the EPO to work. The two go hand in hand. You cannot make healthy red blood cells without EPO and iron.
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