Doctors are advising people to take a more careful look when going to the toilet, as medical studies indicate urine with frothy bubbles or turbid-colored urine may be symptoms of kidney dysfunction.
The doctors issued the warning after a kidney screening program at a major hospital in Greater Taichung late last month, which found that 20 percent of the people screened had renal system dysfunctions and related kidney problems.
“One of the main factors for the prevalence of kidney illness is the Taiwanese predilection for taking painkillers and assorted over-the-counter drugs,” Greater Taichung Feng Yuan Hospital nephrologist Su Shuo-kai (蘇碩凱) said.
Healthy people will see bubbles in the toilet when they urinate with “some applied force,” Su said, but “the frothy bubbles should recede in about 10 to 20 minutes. Urine, when collected in a sample tube, should be in clear liquid form.”
“Abnormal frothy bubbles indicate the presence of excessive protein in the urine. This will result in more viscous frothy bubbles that do not recede as easily,” Su said.
“So when a person does not flush the toilet and goes to urinate again within one or two hours, if the frothy bubbles remain, they indicate some form of kidney dysfunction. The collected urine will be more turbid,” he said.
“Symptoms are not clear in the early stages of kidney disease and are difficult to detect. However, we can detect it by looking for urine with frothy bubbles, swelling in the tissues around the eyes or in the legs, high blood pressure, anemia, lack of appetite and chronic fatigue,” Su said.
Those at high risk of kidney disease are people with high protein content in the urine, high blood pressure or diabetes, or who regularly use over-the-counter drugs, he said. Elderly people, along with smokers and those with a family history of renal problems, are also at higher risk, he added.
“We advise people with persistent frothy bubbles in their urine or swelling in their lower limbs to get a medical checkup,” Su said.
He said people should drink water regularly and eat more vegetables and foods high in fiber, while consuming less salt, oil and sugar to keep kidneys healthy.
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