When your kidneys don’t work properly, too much phosphorus can build up in your blood. This can pull calcium from your bones which, over time, weakens the bones and harms the heart.
Limit Foods High in Phosphorus, including:
Read Food Labels
Limit or avoid foods with “phos” words in the list of ingredients. Here are some examples of ingredients to limit:
Look at your monthly lab results carefully. Keep phosphorus levels between 3.5 and 5.5. Ask your dialysis dietitian for more information on controlling phosphorus.
Download this single page on phosphorus basics
Dialysis doesn’t remove all of the extra phosphorus from your blood. Controlling phosphorus in what you eat prevents damage to bones and your heart.
Wanda, a Satellite Healthcare dietitian, makes it easy to understand how to make the right choices to control the amount of phosphorus in the food you eat.
Wanda Yu, a Satellite Healthcare dietitian, makes it easy to understand how to read a food label for better food choices.
Read more about reading food labelsCalcium and phosphorus, along with vitamin D, keep bones and teeth strong. Calcium also helps muscles and nerves work. Here are some important things to know about calcium in your body.
Monthly blood and other lab tests help your dialysis dietitian understand what nutrients you need more of and which nutrients you may need to limit.
Uncontrolled diabetes makes it harder to stay healthy on dialysis. Monitor and control your blood sugar. Take prescribed medications. Make food choices to help control your blood sugar.