Loss of kidney function in old age is not inevitable

AS PEOPLE get older, their kidneys concentrate urine less effectively. Since, like most things, kidneys might expected to deteriorate with the passage of time, this is no great surprise. Yet a study just published in the by Asher Rosinger of Pennsylvania State University suggests this notion is wrongheaded. Dr Rosinger has found that hunter-gatherers in Africa and forager-horticulturalists in South America are able to produce, into their seventies, urine which is just as concentrated as that of those in their twenties.Monitoring urine concentration matters because, as the kidneys’ urine-concentrating ability diminishes, so too does their ability to filter out toxins and waste products from the blood. Eventually, this can force those with poorly functioning kidneys to undergo painful, expensive and time consuming dialysis.