Clay mineral hope for chronic kidney disease

Use clay minerals to treat chronic kidney disease

03/01/2014

Clay minerals could be used in the future for the treatment of chronic kidney diseases. This is reported by the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI) in Rostock. Researchers are taking advantage of the high binding capacity of clay minerals that can bind phosphorous. Kidney patients suffer from too high phosphate levels in the blood, which so far could only be reduced with pharmaceutical preparations. However, the medications have strong side effects. The clay minerals proved to be well tolerated. In the future, they could also be used to treat inflammatory bowel disease.

Chronic kidney patients have so far relied on drugs with severe side effects
In Germany over six million people suffer from a chronic kidney disease. About 70,000 patients are dependent on dialysis, in which the blood is artificially cleaned of certain substances. The main risk factors for kidney failure are high blood pressure and diabetes. Worldwide, the number of those affected is increasing. The causes include above all wrong diet, but also the aging of society.

Not infrequently, sufferers spend 15 hours a week on dialysis. In renal insufficiency, phosphates can no longer be sufficiently excreted, resulting in phosphorus accumulation in the blood. Due to the high concentration, calcium phosphate is subsequently deposited in the vessels. The risk of heart attack and stroke is thereby increased tenfold. To prevent complications, patients take so-called phosphate binders with each meal so that no phosphate gets into the blood. Unfortunately, the drugs cause severe side effects, including constipation and neurological disorders.

Clay minerals can bind excess phosphate in chronic kidney disease
The IZI researchers were therefore looking for an alternative to conventional medicines. They came across clay minerals that have high binding capacities. Laboratory tests showed not only that phosphorus is very well bound by the layer minerals, but also that the natural phosphate binder is very well tolerated. „The phosphate binder derived from pure mineralogical raw materials is just as effective as conventional pharmaceuticals. He can lower the high phosphorus level in kidney patients. Our tests show that unlike the usual drugs in experiments in animal models, it causes only minor side effects“, explains Professor Steffen Mitzner, Head of the Rostock Working Group Extracorporeal Immunomodulation and Professor of Nephrology at the University Hospital Rostock. Clay minerals may also be used in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Corresponding investigations with animal experiments are already running.

The researchers developed the active ingredient in cooperation with FIM Biotech GmbH. As a basis serve clay minerals of Friedländer clay from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The minerals are about 60 million years old and come from volcanic ash, which was deposited by the sea. To make the natural phosphate binder, the clay must first be cleaned and then processed and refined.

According to the IZI, the clinical trials for the active substance could start as early as spring 2014. Then the first patients could benefit from the clay minerals.

Clay minerals - A remedy from nature
Clay minerals are an integral part of naturopathy. As a so-called healing clay, which contains not only clay minerals but also lime and some other minerals, it is for example prescribed for oral use against heartburn. The special properties of the clay minerals - their layer structure and binding capacity - cause the gastric acid causing the heartburn to become bound in the intermediate layers of the clay minerals. More specifically, the hydrogen ions are bound so that the acid is rendered harmless. Externally, healing clay is mainly used for acne and joint pain. (Ag)