Probiotic supplementation may be a potential avenue for people on peritoneal dialysis. Dialysis is the use of machinery to filter the blood of wastes and toxins when the kidneys cannot do this.

Kidneys can fail or function at reduced capacity in chronic kidney problems. Daily probiotic supplementation improved people’s quality of life tests. Probiotics supplement gut bacteria, a
major area of struggle for the kidneys as gut bacteria has been implicated in the progression of kidney problems

Hemodialysis is a procedure where the person’s blood is pumped into an artificial kidney machine, and returned to your body by tubes from the machine. Peritoneal dialysis, uses the lining of the belly interior as a natural filter. Waste materials are removed through a cleansing fluid called dialysate. This is washed out of the person in cycles.

Researchers looked at 116 patients on peritoneal dialysis, where one group was given probiotics for 2 months. Blood samples were taken during this period. Researchers looked at serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, hemoglobin (Hb), albumin (Alb), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), IL-6, total triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Researchers also gave the patients a quality of life questionnaire to gain more information. While results did not show a significant change in the two month period, physical and social functioning did improve notably. They believe the probiotic supplements may have improved
nutritional conditions and decreased inflammation. Researchers plan to continue investigations into the use of probiotics.

For more about probiotics and what they can do for you, regardless of where your are in your kidney health journey, be sure to take a look at our very own Kidney Restore, one of our most popular supplements which contains probiotics to help support normal kidney function.