In this podcast, Dr. Holly Kramer, Professor of Public Health Sciences and Medicine at Loyola University, Chicago, talks about her research in nephrology, and the links between obesity and kidney disease. 

Podcast Points:

• What is the kidney's primary function?
• What exactly is nephrology?
• An overview of obesity-related diseases and problems
  

Dr. Kramer discusses the alarming escalation of obesity in America, and its association to kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension, and other health problems. Dr. Kramer focuses her research on important areas that have an affect on public health. She talks about the interconnections between nutrition and obesity and kidney disease. 

Dr. Kramer talks in detail about her current research, and why she is so intensely interested in the role obesity plays in so many diseases. Throughout her career she has worked with many other nephrologists and focused her attention on new ways to treat health ailments, such as kidney stones, kidney failure, and hypertension.

Dr. Kramer explains how we lose kidney function as we grow older. She provides a wealth of information on muscle movement and creatine. As she details, when creatine gets old it loses an important water group and thus becomes creatinine, which is actually a waste product produced by muscles from this breakdown. When creatinine leaks into the bloodstream it is then filtered by the kidney.

Dr. Kramer states that by looking at levels of creatinine in the blood, they can get a sense of how well the kidney is actually functioning. Continuing, the research doctor provides extensive information on diabetes, discussing insulin, medication, and how ketones are created.