• Question: Does the number of kidneys you have (One, Two etc.) affect how your body works?

    Asked by u11keenm to Keith, Heather on 27 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Heather Eyre

      Heather Eyre answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Providing that the kidneys are working properly it doesn`t seem to matter if you have one or three!

      There are a few people with an extra kidney, and a lot of the time they don`t find out until they go in to hospital for an unrelated reason! There was a girl with four kidneys, but she only has three now as one got damaged somehow, but I think she is still perfectly healthy!

    • Photo: Keith Siew

      Keith Siew answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      It shouldn’t have any major effects as there any many checks and balances to make sure everything is as it should be… so if you have extra or fewer kidneys… the other ones will be instructed to or detect the cues that tell them to increase or decrease activity to compensate for the other ones and keep the body in balance (homeostasis)

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