Your kidneys serve many functions in your body. Their big job is to filter out waste from your blood, purifying 200 quarts of blood for just a few quarts of urine. Your kidneys also make hormones that control your blood pressure and signal the bone marrow to make red blood cells. You need your kidneys to make vitamin D to help absorb minerals and strengthen your bones. Your fluid and pH levels are also balanced by your kidneys.
If your doctor diagnoses you with high cholesterol, you might be prescribed statins to bring your cholesterol to a healthy level. Most statins work by limiting the amount of cholesterol your liver produces while clearing excess cholesterol from your blood. However, statins might strain your kidneys. A 2016 study in the American Journal of Cardiology found that taking statins increased the risk of acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease by more than 30%.
