• What do diuretics do?

  Filed under Diet & Fitness
  Feb 14

  
  
  
  Do they just rid the body of water? Why are they good for weightloss? Like natural diuretics and such..
  Answer the QUESTION people! Believe me, I KNOW how to lose weight. That’s not what I’m asking.
  
  

  Tagged as: Answer The Question, Body Of Water, Natural Diuretics, Weightloss
  
  2 Comments

2 Responses to “What do diuretics do?”

1. 

   Bubla said on February 15th, 2008 at 12:41 am

   they rid the body of water and electrolytes, therefor we shouldn’t use them if there is no medical need to do so. they seem good for weight loss because much of our weight is water, but you can do it the other (and healthier) way – cut down the intake of sodium.

2. 

   Mikey B said on February 15th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

   diuretics are prescribed if you have high blood pressure, heart failure or too much fluid in the tissues of your body, which doctors call, oedema.
   How do diuretics work?
   Thiazides, loop diuretics and potassium-sparing diuretics all work on the kidneys.

   The kidneys have a network of tubes that make urine by filtering the blood in two stages. In the first stage, the water, salt and the waste products such as urea are filtered out from the blood, leaving behind the red and white blood cells. But lots of nutrients and other essential substances also leave the blood at this stage.

   In the second stage there is a backwards filter, where the kidneys re-absorb the nutrients and essential substances back into the blood. This leaves the waste products, plus some salt and water, in the kidneys. This waste leaves the kidneys as urine.

   Heart failure makes the kidneys re-absorb more water and salt into the blood, and so produce less urine. This is the body’s way of trying to compensate for the reduced pumping power of the heart, but it actually makes matters worse. There is a bigger volume of blood for the heart to pump, and so more work for it to do. Also the excess water in the blood tends to leak out into the lungs, which can lead to breathlessness. Heart failure can also make your ankles and feet swell up.

   Diuretics reduce the amount of water and salt that is re-absorbed by your kidneys. So, more water and salt passes out with the waste products into your urine. This means that you make more urine. As a result of this loss of water from the blood, the overall volume of blood is reduced. This gives your heart less work to do and helps to reduce the pressure of blood in your arteries, which is what high blood pressure actually is.

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