3 ms·

Without the presence of albumin, the high pressure of the blood vessels would push more fluids into the tissues. Sounds to me like this would have significant

Without the presence of albumin, the high pressure of the blood vessels would push more fluids into the tissues. Sounds to me like this would have significant implications for the ability of the body to return interstitial fluid to the bloodstream efficiently.

adrian_b 4y ago
Usually the first signs of having too low albumin in the blood (due to either eating too little protein or insufficient albumin synthesis in the liver or bad digestion of proteins or malabsorbtion of aminoacids in the intestine) are bilateral oedema of the legs, i.e. large swellings of the feet and lower legs, which become very large and spongy. With even lower albumin in the blood, the pressure becomes so large that the lymph (i.e. the water) begins to exit the legs through the skin and the condition can become life-threatening, so the low albumin must be corrected by providing intravenous albumin and the primary cause for having low albumin must be treated. I have seen all these symptoms when my mother had for a few months malabsorbtion in the intestine following some difficult surgery and a time of intensive care and IV feeding. Discovering the precise cause of the low albumin in blood was quite difficult, but it was important. The medical doctors who treated her would have been happy to just give her permanently IV albumin, until death, but this was not really a sustainable option (both due to high cost and because it would have tied her to a bed for a large part of the time), so the real cause of the low albumin had to be identified and corrected. Too high albumin in the blood would have the opposite effect, by extracting the water from the tissues into the blood vessels. Presumably, if external albumin is added as in this experiment, the liver will diminish a lot its albumin synthesis activity, to keep the right amount of albumin in circulation. This might also have some influence over the lifespan, not only the existence of supposedly better, young albumin in the blood.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  Thank you. I would be interested in hearing more about what was done to correct the issue or any other tidbits you might know about improving albumin production. I have chronic edema from an incurable condition.
  - adrian_b 4y ago
    I could not identify precisely the cause of low albumin in my mother, but the blood and urine analyses were consistent with normal hepatic and renal functions, i.e. neither aminoacids nor proteins were eliminated by the kidneys and there seemed to be no reason why the liver should not be able to synthesize albumin. That leaved as the most probable causes either bad digestion of proteins or malabsorbtion of the aminoacids in the intestine, the latter being more probable, due to the nature of her previous medical problems. So I have just conceived a special diet for her, very rich in diverse protein sources, and I have also given her some digestive aids with enzymes, to cover the case when there would have been some gastric or pancreatic problem in the secretion of digestive enzymes. The improvements have been very slow, as she was in her eighties and recovering after a severe surgery, but with the very rich in protein diet the albumin levels eventually recovered and after a few months she could go back to a normal diet. Fortunately this was a temporary condition, due to previous intestinal damage, which slowly healed, and not some permanent problem, for which it might have been difficult to find a cure. The main difficulties were caused by the various opinions of the consulted doctors, none of which were helpful in finding the common-sense solution, which worked. When either too little protein enters the body due to defects in the digestive system, or too much protein exits the body, due to defects in the excretory system, there are some chances to alleviate the condition by eating more proteins. When the defects are in the liver ability of protein synthesis, that is much harder to overcome.
    - DoreenMichele 4y ago
      Thank you. That was very helpful. My condition involves malabsorption and it's common to prescribe digestive enzymes.
      - adrian_b 4y ago
        Like I have said, besides tablets with digestive enzymes, the special diet included generous quantities of protein-rich ingredients, e.g. lentils or other legumes, turkey breast or chicken breast or turkey thighs (turkey thighs, which have low fat, were included among the options because she preferred their taste), as much chicken liver as it would not cause the daily vitamin A intake to approach the maximum acceptable level (turkey liver cannot substitute chicken liver, because it contains too much vitamin A), egg white, and, because she liked dairy very much, yogurt and several kinds of cheese, preferably kinds with much protein and little fat, e.g. whey cheese, like ricotta.

adrian_b 4y ago

Usually the first signs of having too low albumin in the blood (due to either eating too little protein or insufficient albumin synthesis in the liver or bad digestion of proteins or malabsorbtion of aminoacids in the intestine) are bilateral oedema of the legs, i.e. large swellings of the feet and lower legs, which become very large and spongy. With even lower albumin in the blood, the pressure becomes so large that the lymph (i.e. the water) begins to exit the legs through the skin and the condition can become life-threatening, so the low albumin must be corrected by providing intravenous albumin and the primary cause for having low albumin must be treated. I have seen all these symptoms when my mother had for a few months malabsorbtion in the intestine following some difficult surgery and a time of intensive care and IV feeding. Discovering the precise cause of the low albumin in blood was quite difficult, but it was important. The medical doctors who treated her would have been happy to just give her permanently IV albumin, until death, but this was not really a sustainable option (both due to high cost and because it would have tied her to a bed for a large part of the time), so the real cause of the low albumin had to be identified and corrected. Too high albumin in the blood would have the opposite effect, by extracting the water from the tissues into the blood vessels. Presumably, if external albumin is added as in this experiment, the liver will diminish a lot its albumin synthesis activity, to keep the right amount of albumin in circulation. This might also have some influence over the lifespan, not only the existence of supposedly better, young albumin in the blood.

DoreenMichele 4y ago
Thank you. I would be interested in hearing more about what was done to correct the issue or any other tidbits you might know about improving albumin production. I have chronic edema from an incurable condition.
- adrian_b 4y ago
  I could not identify precisely the cause of low albumin in my mother, but the blood and urine analyses were consistent with normal hepatic and renal functions, i.e. neither aminoacids nor proteins were eliminated by the kidneys and there seemed to be no reason why the liver should not be able to synthesize albumin. That leaved as the most probable causes either bad digestion of proteins or malabsorbtion of the aminoacids in the intestine, the latter being more probable, due to the nature of her previous medical problems. So I have just conceived a special diet for her, very rich in diverse protein sources, and I have also given her some digestive aids with enzymes, to cover the case when there would have been some gastric or pancreatic problem in the secretion of digestive enzymes. The improvements have been very slow, as she was in her eighties and recovering after a severe surgery, but with the very rich in protein diet the albumin levels eventually recovered and after a few months she could go back to a normal diet. Fortunately this was a temporary condition, due to previous intestinal damage, which slowly healed, and not some permanent problem, for which it might have been difficult to find a cure. The main difficulties were caused by the various opinions of the consulted doctors, none of which were helpful in finding the common-sense solution, which worked. When either too little protein enters the body due to defects in the digestive system, or too much protein exits the body, due to defects in the excretory system, there are some chances to alleviate the condition by eating more proteins. When the defects are in the liver ability of protein synthesis, that is much harder to overcome.
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    Thank you. That was very helpful. My condition involves malabsorption and it's common to prescribe digestive enzymes.
    - adrian_b 4y ago
      Like I have said, besides tablets with digestive enzymes, the special diet included generous quantities of protein-rich ingredients, e.g. lentils or other legumes, turkey breast or chicken breast or turkey thighs (turkey thighs, which have low fat, were included among the options because she preferred their taste), as much chicken liver as it would not cause the daily vitamin A intake to approach the maximum acceptable level (turkey liver cannot substitute chicken liver, because it contains too much vitamin A), egg white, and, because she liked dairy very much, yogurt and several kinds of cheese, preferably kinds with much protein and little fat, e.g. whey cheese, like ricotta.