What is Creatinine and How Does it Measure How Well the Kidneys are Working? | The Cooking Doc®

Have you ever had blood work done and wondered what Creatinine means on your results? One of the ways we doctors use to figure out how well the kidneys are functioning is a measure called Creatinine. In this week's video we are going to dive into this subject and talk about this measurement, why it is important and what can cause it to fluctuate (from diet, medications and supplements). Give it a watch and be sure to like, subscribe and comment.

Content Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:38 - Creatinine and the Kidneys
01:35 - Where Does Creatinine Come From?
02:17 - What Makes Creatinine Levels Go Up?
03:00 - Typical Creatinine Reading
03:35 - Muscle Mass and Creatinine
05:07 - Medications and Creatinine
05:47 - Creatine Supplement
06:23 - High Animal Protein Diet
07:33 - Conclusion

Working as a kidney doctor, I found that my patients were often unaware of just how important diet and lifestyle were and how often they felt unsupported by generic advice to “eat healthy”.

The home cook in me hated hearing this, so I set out to find a better way. I began to combine my medical training and love of food, making videos of simple recipes that were based on science and packed with flavor. Instead of just saying “eat healthy” to my patients, I could give them the resources they needed to make a real difference in their health.

Kidney doctor, passionate home cook, and YouTube sensation Dr Blake Shusterman empowers people to proactively manage their health by stepping into the kitchen. The author of several cookbooks with over 100,000 YouTube subscribers, The Cooking Doc® believes anyone, at any age can transform their health with small changes that make a big difference. Based on science and packed with flavor, Dr. Blake’s simple recipes have inspired home cooks everywhere to change their diet, retrain their taste buds, and transform their health.

The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. The purpose of this website is to promote health and wellness. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

[tommillia]

Going for my kidney results Today. Wish me Luck...
First tests ever in my life n am 42 year's of age..

[zackgeldhof]

My husband has kidney failure. He had a THOUSAND times more creatinine than he should have! Needless to say we nearly lost him, but he's doing much better now! He's a chef and plans on making a Renal Diet cook book!

[vasanthakumar]

Thanks for explaining so nicely to be understood

[MrChambers]

Very helpful easy to understand. Thank you

[ssktakk]

Lots of information simplified . Thanks

[sivnair]

Excellent explanation. Thank you Doctor

[henryvaldez]

Thank you sir God bless you and yourFamily

[RyanWilliams]

This is a good video! I learned things from it that confused me before (e.g., the relationship between creatine and creatinine). Thank you!

[johnely]

Thank you for a very informative video.

[annjean]

Great video!👍🏽
Thank you for sharing.

[waypradeep]

Very informative Content and I have a question, My father is a dibetic patient and having 6.5 creatinine level.. how we can help to reduce that level and recently his weight is lost significantly so that cause this high creatinine or what should be the reason

[fractalife]

Thank you for explanation. One thing still I dont understand, a friend of mine just postpone the gym schedule because he had blood work done and got high Creatinine level, is high CK mean we should not excersice until it back to normal, or wait couple days?

[OnlyGamesPlayed]

My Mom was in stage 2 kidney failure due to Sickle-Beta Thalassemia! She recently died from acute liver failure 14 months shy of her 80th birthday. It was said that BLACKFOLK’S have a higher gfr due to genetics and supposedly our kidneys are different from every one else in world and we were more susceptible to kidney problems! Oddly though, BLACKFOLK’S kidneys are in high demand for renal transplantation in the world…or so it is said!

[williebarreto]

This is a very good video, my levels are high. This is due to being a bodybuilder also I are on pain medication. Doctor informed me when to not workout prior to bloodwork. This is to get a more accurate reading.

[minervagonzales]

Loved your video & thank you, sir.
What does PROTEIN (1+, 2+ or
3+), BLOOD, MUCUS ( ttru UA) & BUBBLES /FOAM in the urine ( appearance) signifies, other necessary blood works needed & the necessary
treatment ??
THANK you so much for your COMPASSION.
GOD BLESS!

[huntermcelveen]

My kidney doctor doesn't explain anything to me he just keeps increasing meds. He's frightening me.

[alissacook]

I am in nursing school and we have been learning about all of these lab values, but I was seeking additional information. Thank you so much for this video!

[tarsala]

I'm doing sports whole my life and I did the blood test. It turned out that my cholesterol is high and creatinine is high but after analysis it turned out to be normal or even better than normal. High choresterol is bad mostly when triglicerides are also high. It's important to not look at measurements as independent from each other.

[kwajy]

Thank you for your videos. Could you address the relationship between creatinine and GFR. Thank you Ben

[Shampak]

Hi Doc, my mother in law is suffering from a urine infections for nearly a year and after several antibiotics both Tablets and IV it is not getting better. She also has high creatinine, can unire infection cause creatinine to go high? I saw a few videos and no doctors mentioned about anything about Unine Infections which can go upto the kidneys. I'm from India, we have seen MDs, Nefrologists those who think it's happening due to the urine infection. I would really appreciate your take on this.