Q: I am suffering from diabetes for about last five years and as per advice of a doctor I am taking GLIMER 2mg 1 tablet daily and Hopecard 5 daily. Now fasting sugar is between 110-130 and PPBS is 165 mg/dl. During sonography bilateral mild parenchymal changes in kidneys were found, but report for microalbumin in urine is absent. Now I am worried about what to do. The doctor advised me to take only vegetarian diet and the medicines mentioned above. Kindly advise me what can I do to protect my kidneys and also advise me about the diet which I can take.

A:Presently urine microalbumin is the best test to evaluate renal involvement in diabetes. If microalbumin is normal then it means that there is little chance of diabetic kidney disease at the moment. The test should be repeated annually. Important precautions to take are to control blood pressure well (less than 130/30 mmHg) and to control diabetes well.