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World Kidney Day is observed annually on the second Thursday of March to raise awareness about kidney health. The 2025 theme is “Are Your Kidneys OK? Detect Early, Protect Kidney Health.”
World Kidney Day 2025: For promoting kidney health, nutritionists and fitness coaches are constantly advocating for the 8 golden rules for kidney health. (Image: Shutterstock)
World Kidney Day is observed annually on the second Thursday of March to raise awareness about kidney health and its vital role in overall well-being. This year, it falls on March 13. The kidneys, two bean-shaped organs, act as the body’s primary filtration system, removing waste products and excess fluid from the blood.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), they help maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals – essential for regulating blood pressure, producing red blood cells, and ensuring overall body equilibrium.
When kidneys fail to perform their primary functions, such as filtering waste and producing erythropoietin (a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production), it can lead to severe health complications. Kidney-related issues can disrupt the body’s internal balance, affecting everything from blood pressure to oxygen circulation.
World Kidney Day 2025 Theme
The theme of World Kidney Day 2025 is “Are Your Kidneys OK? Detect Early, Protect Kidney Health,” according to the official website. This is targeted to highlight the importance of kidney health, as well as regular checkups for early detection and intervention to prevent any disease related to the body’s primary filtering organ.
World Kidney Day: History
World Kidney Day was first celebrated in 2006. It was a joint initiative of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations.
They together formed the World Kidney Alliance (IFKF-WKA), which ensures the proper celebration of the global health campaign to raise awareness of the importance of our kidneys to overall health.
The campaign’s first tagline was “Are your kidneys okay?”.
Significance of World Kidney Day 2025
The global campaign aims to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease. The significance behind the theme of World Kidney Day 2025 is to protect individuals from Chronic kidney disease (CKD).
As per the official website, CKD is estimated to affect approximately 850 million people worldwide, and if left undetected and not treated timely, it can lead to kidney failure, severe complications and premature mortality.
8 Golden Rules For Kidney Health
For promoting kidney health, nutritionists and fitness coaches are constantly advocating for the 8 golden rules for kidney health, which are as follows –
- Stay fit: Since obesity is one of the key factors behind hampering kidney health, staying fit even after a certain age is important. For this, you need to exercise regularly or walk for some time in a day.
- Eat a healthy diet: Eating a clean and nutritious diet has always been beneficial for the body and so for the kidneys.
- Control blood sugar: Diabetes is another major risk factor for kidney diseases. Hence, keeping a check and controlling the blood sugar levels of your body is extremely crucial.
- Monitor blood pressure: Having a proper diet and medications will help in preventing hypertension which reduces cardiovascular diseases that lead to kidney diseases.
- Hydrate your body: Stay hydrated so your body has enough fluid for the proper transportation of food and other. For this, drinking 3-5 litres of water everyday is crucial.
- Avoid smoking: Smoking can harm your kidneys by damaging blood vessels or increasing blood pressure as per a report by Kidney Research UK. This also increases the risk of kidney cancer.
- Limit over-the-counter painkillers: As per a report by National Kidney Foundation, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and naproxen, can negatively affect the kidneys if taken in high doses or for extended periods. They potentially cause kidney damage by reducing blood flow to the kidneys and leading to acute kidney injury (AKI) or worsening chronic kidney disease (CKD), especially in those individuals who already have pre-existing kidney issues or other health concerns like high blood pressure.
- Check kidney function regularly: Regularly checking the kidney function, especially with high-risk factors 1 is crucial to prevent kidney diseases from day one.
Food prohibited for patients with kidney disease
There is a list of foods that should be avoided by patients with kidney disease –
- Processed foods: Kidneys remove acid produced by the cells of your body and maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals such as sodium, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium in your blood. Hence, processed foods which are high in these substances should be avoided for overdose in the body.
- Salty foods: French fries, chips, canned soups, frozen meals and pickles should be avoided as these have high chances of increasing blood pressure.
- Dried fruits: Raisins, prunes, and apricots, amongst other dried fruits are high in potassium, sugar, and calories, so these should be replaced by normal fruits.
- Potatoes: These are high in potassium, and can even increase your blood sugar levels.
- Dairy products: Milk, cheese, ice creams and others are high in potassium and phosphorus, so you might need to limit it.
Instead, choose lean proteins like whole eggs and chicken for protein alongside green and leafy vegetables which are easy to digest and have minimal harmful effects to the body.
