What is diabetes nephropathy?

When tiny blood vessels in the diabetes patient's kidney become damaged due to high blood glucose ("sugar"), the kidney is not able to filter waste from the body as normal.  As this condition worsens, the diabetic may have total kidney or renal failure, where the kidney stops functioning altogether.

It is important to avoid high blood pressure and high cholesterol, because these conditions contribute to diabetes nephropathy.

Regular urine tests are used to determine if a diabetes patient has developed nephropathy.  If the diabetic's urine comes back with the presence of protein (albumin), this may indicate early warning signs of kidney damage.

Testing is very important, because if caught early enough, kidney damage can be halted or corrected.