Albumin is a protein made by the liver and is found in the clear liquid portion of your blood (blood plasma). It plays a crucial role in maintaining your overall health by performing many functions:
- Maintaining fluid balance: Albumin helps keep fluids from leaking out of your blood vessels into other tissues.
- Transporting substances: Albumin acts as a carrier for various substances in your blood, including hormones, fatty acids, vitamins, and medicines.
- Binding to and removing toxins: Albumin helps bind to and remove toxins from your body.
An albumin blood test is used to check your general health and to see how well your liver and kidneys are working. Low albumin levels might indicate problems with your liver or kidneys. Higher albumin levels may be caused by acute infections, burns, and stress from surgery or a heart attack.
Albumin can also be measured in the urine. Albuminuria, or albumin in the urine, is a sign of kidney disease and means that you have too much albumin in your urine.
