A new study conducted in the Netherlands has found that people who have an apple shaped body, which is when a person’s fat is found mostly in the abdominal region, may lead to poor kidney health. The study found that people with the apple shaped body run a higher risk of kidney disease even when they are not overweight. The effects of obesity have long been known to strain the kidneys; however, this study is able to demonstrate how just a small increase in belly fat can adversely affect the kidneys by reducing the flow of blood and increasing the blood pressure within them. The kidneys are two organs that are shaped like a bean and can be found just below the rib cage. They remove waste from the blood stream and flush it out of the body as urine. Most forms of kidney disease currently have no cure, aside from a kidney transplant. Kidney disease is the eight leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with about 90,000 Americans on the waitlist for a transplant. These findings have been found to affect both men and women. Researchers are suspecting that this could be caused by fat triggering inflammation or insulin resistance, which can damage kidneys are a cellular level. The study was published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.