Being someone that had a brush with CKD, I would blame our diet and more generally our philosophy around food. I wasn’t told that it’s abnormal to finish every drop of soup/broth (I paid for it afterall??!) in a soupy meal (think ramen, Maggie sup, curry laksa, etc) until upon reflection during treatment. The killer in CKD isn’t the sodium (though it certainly doesn’t help) but the purines. The tastier and more umami the broth has, the more purine it has. Purines lead to elevated uric acid, which strains the kidney.

Uric acid is also one of those blood test indicators that don’t get enough (or any, for that matter) attention. Rummaging thru my old records, I found out that my uric acid exceeded the high point basically since the first blood test I did in living memory (which is about secondary school time). And no doctor ever gave attention to it. Hari hari cholesterol saja nak sembang.

FWIW, I’m a skinny bugger, which makes it even more dangerous because nobody is warning us skinny buggers to “eat less” or “watch what I eat”. And I do eat a lot and I eat everything.