Trust me, kidneys are pretty important kidney functions. You need them for your body to function and most importantly you need them to buy your next iPhone if you’re poor like me. Now, to make sure you’re correct, you’re probably avoiding a lot of food and drinks. But no matter what, you can’t just skip the coffee.
Is coffee bad for your kidney? Well, that’s what I’m going to focus on. I’ll discuss the benefits and the drawbacks of coffee along with some extrados and don’ts. So, let’s not wait anymore. Let’s talk.
Is It That Fatal? – the Benefits
To be honest, coffee does have some drawbacks. But if you look at the bright sides, you’ll get a lot of options. Let’s see some of the noticeable ones. I’ll just cover the benefits that the coffee has over your kidney only.
Treats Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
Surprisingly, researches that involve about 5,000 people with chronic disease shows that daily caffeine intake actually cured their kidney issues. In fact, Viera’s team monitored 4,863 patients who suffered from kidney diseases, and that too from the year 1999 to 2010. Guess the result!
Coffee wins again. Even though the study couldn’t find the actual reason for the cure, but it showed that patients with chronic kidney diseases tend to have greater life expectancy than the ones who are non-drinkers.
In fact, the ones who drink coffee were found to be successful in their educational life and had higher incomes. So, taking caffeine won’t ruin you as marijuana does. Trust me.
Effect of Coffee on Patients with Genetic Kidney Disease
You might’ve heard that caffeine could increase the chances of kidney cyst growing inside a patient who’s already suffering from autosomal dominant PKD (polycystic kidney disease).
However, recent clinical studies show that the opinion is wrong. Not saying that taking coffee or caffein to be specific will help in curing PKD, NO. But if you thought that coffee could make your PKD worse, you’re wrong.
The Drawbacks
Here are a few drawbacks coffee can have on your body. Read this and get to know.
Blood Pressure
If you take coffee, it will result in a sudden increase in your blood pressure. Now, you won’t see any valid research that says drinking 3 or 4 cups of coffee in a day can increase the chance of you getting kidney disease.
Besides, if you’re someone who already is struggling with blood pressure issues, you better drink less than 3 cups of coffee per day.
The Additives Can Be a Threat
When you say coffee, you can’t ignore the additives the coffee comes with. At least, the ones you get from your nearby stores do have additives in them. For example, if you’re talking about a cup of café latte worth 8 oz, it basically rolls in phosphorus.
That’s 183 mg of phosphorous we’re talking about. Also, you’ll get 328 mg of potassium with it.
Let’s talk about creamers a bit? Yes, they can be problematic as well. Coffee creamers come with added chemical phosphates. As you take them in, your body absorbs them quite easily, and that’s when we’re talking about threats. Yep, chemical phosphates are a threat to your kidneys.
Kidney Stones: There’s Always Risks
Yes, coffee can be your favorite beverage, and trust me, it won’t be harming your body if you take it in moderation. Moderation, get it? That’s what I’m talking about. You see, if you’re someone who’s having a kidney stone or about to get out there, you better cut down your coffee intake a bit.
Kidney stones have got varieties, and oxalate stones are probably one of the most common ones. And guess what’s the main source of coffee? Ba Dum Tss…COFFEE! So, if you want to prevent getting kidney stones, you should go nice and slow when it comes to drinking coffee.
If you’ve already got stones in your kidney, maybe it’s time to give your cup of coffee a break.
Kidney Cancer: Let’s Not Ignore This One
Does coffee cause kidney cancer? Well, to be honest, the studies have results that are quite mixed. Studies show that if you drink coffee, the risk of getting renal cell carcinoma reduces a lot. However, this is only true just for caffeinated coffee.
The same study showed that if you take too much decaffeinated coffee, you’ll end up increasing the chance of getting renal cell carcinoma, which is commonly known as a type of kidney cancer.
However, as I said, it’s not a final verdict, and more studies and researches need to be done. But to make sure you’re in the safe zone, you should cut down your caffeine intake.
Coffee Cautions for Patients with CKD
Are you a CKD patient? It doesn’t matter if you’re having at a moderate level or a severe one, once this disease gets you, you should take less than 2,000 mg of mineral per day. Coming to the cup of coffee now. Each cup of coffee can contain about 116 mg of minerals or more.
So, if you want to be in a safe zone, make sure you take less than 3 cups a day. However, if you’re drinking black coffee, you won’t have to bat an eye. The reason? Well, black coffee has got low sodium, calories, carbohydrates, protein, and phosphorous.
What you need to be aware of is having mixed coffee drinks that have got milk, whipped cream, and added syrup.
Making Coffee Drinks Kidney-Friendly
So, you’ve got issues in your kidney, but you can’t say ‘No’ to coffee. Well, I’m not going to give you a green signal on drinking too much coffee, but since you can’t skip it anyway, so here’s how you can make coffee drinks friendly to your kidney.
You see, coffee becomes a threat most of the time when you add milk or creamers to it. If you can drink black coffee, oh boy, that’s the best option. However, if you do want to add milk to your coffee, make sure you limit the milk to 4 ounces.
Also, you can use soy milk instead of milk or cream. Almond milk or rice milk can be a good replacement as well. If you have this, you’ll have less phosphorus and potassium content in your body.
Coffee Drinks You Should Avoid
If you’re on a kidney diet, you should avoid some coffee drinks since they’ve got phosphate additives along with a great amount of potassium and sodium. Try to avoid the following drinks if you want to live a healthy life.
- Coffee mixes that are powdered instantly simply by using non-dairy creamer.
- Hot mocha
- Iced mocha
- Coffee energy drinks
- Mocha mixes that are powdered instantly
- Coffee beverages that are bottled and have added milk
Along with this, try to avoid frozen or iced coffee, especially when you’re limiting the fluids in your body. Frozen or iced coffee contains more liquid since you add ice.
Also, try to skip non-dairy creamers, it doesn’t matter if it’s a powder or a liquid. Almost all the brands you’ll see come with phosphate additives. However, if you do use non-dairy creamer, make sure you cut it down to a single portion daily.
Verdict
Is coffee bad for your kidney? The answer is yes, and no at the same time. Meaning- it completely depends on you whether it’s going to be a problem or not. If you drink coffee while maintaining your diet and moderation, it won’t be much of a problem.
However, if you keep on having too much coffee, then there’s always a risk for some kidney diseases.
Recommended Reading:
- Is Coffee Bad for Your Heart?
- Is Coffee Bad For Your Diet?
- And Is Coffee Bad for Your Immune System?
References:
- https://www.kidney.org/newsletter/coffee-and-kidney-disease#:~:text=Caffeine%20causes%20a%20short%20but,drink%20is%20a%20good%20idea.
- https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-coffees-effect-on-the-kidneys-4147536
- https://www.healthline.com/health-news/coffee-may-prolong-life-of-kidney-disease-patients#The-bottom-line
- https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/news/20180914/coffee-may-have-another-perk-for-kidney-patients
- https://blogs.davita.com/kidney-diet-tips/coffee-whats-your-cup/
