When you develop end stage kidney failure, your kidneys aren't able to function on their own anymore. This usually occurs when you lose about 85-90% of your kidney function. Dialysis can help those with kidney failure live longer, healthier lives, but as a patient, it may feel overwhelming to make decisions surrounding your treatment.

Skim milk, cantaloupe and brown rice may be the keys to preserving kidney function. According to research, eating poorly, smoking and obesity can cause kidney disease in otherwise healthy people.

Kidney failure can strike anyone at any age -men, women and children. For more than 380,000 Americans with kidney failure, dialysis treatment performs the life-saving job of filtering the body's toxins that their own kidneys can no longer do. People receiving this therapy can continue on with their lives, yet myths about the treatment abound.

The terrible pain of kidney stone disease may be more common in people with metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of five traits that also sets the stage for heart disease and stroke, according to new research.

For as far back as she can remember, Dolores Bisagni has suffered from high blood pressure. "I think I've had it forever," she says. Somehow, the condition was treated, but never really under control until recently. Dolores says the kidney failure she now has is a direct result of uncontrolled hypertension.

Each year in the United States, about 51,000 adults will be diagnosed with kidney cancer. The exact cause of kidney cancer is unclear, but having advanced chronic kidney disease may place you at increased risk for developing kidney cancer.

Summer is here and it’s time to fire up the grill! Throw on the chicken and burgers, but think twice before loading up on the extras. “Extras” can ruin a healthy diet by providing extra unwanted calories, extra sugar and extra sodium. Year-round, condiments are an “extra” culprit, but it’s especially important to pay attention to them during the summer, since condiments seem to be a mainstay on the kitchen and picnic table alike.

One in three Americans is at risk for kidney disease due to high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. High blood pressure is a leading cause of kidney disease and increases your risk of developing a heart attack or stroke. There is no cure, but treatment and lifestyle changes, including taking high blood pressure medications, following a healthy diet and exercising regularly can lower blood pressure.

Diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis) cause damage to both the heart and kidneys. So if you have heart disease, then it is likely that you have kidney disease and vice-versa. Many people don’t experience severe symptoms until their kidney or heart disease is quite advanced, but there are some warning signs. Could you be ignoring them?