INDIANAPOLIS -- The popular low-carb diets may make kidney disease worse for sufferers.

One in nine Hoosiers has chronic kidney disease and most don't know it, Staying Healthy's Stacia Matthews reported.

The National Kidney Foundation warns that eating a high-protein diet may accelerate kidney problems, especially with women.

Researchers studied women with mild forms of kidney disease and found that the more protein the women ate, the faster their kidneys failed to do their job.

One of the most common complications was kidney stones, Matthews reported, and doctors say high-protein diets may double the risk.

Kidney stones -- hard calcium deposits -- are very painful and often require surgery or laser treatments to remove them.

"Most kidney stones are actually preventable. If people realize, once we figure out what the problem is, what the combination diet and medicine is, then in the vast majority of patients we can prevent them from having another kidney stone," said Dr. Sharon Moe of the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Moe said chronic kidney disease has no symptoms until it advances, but three simple tests can help identify them: a blood test, a blood pressure test and urinalysis.

For information on free kidney screenings, call (800) 382-9971.