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Physiological Responses of Human Adults to Foods Containing Phosphate Additives¹

School of Human Resources and Family Studies, Department of Food Science and Department of Animal Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801

An experiment was conducted to assess the physiological effects of a diet rich in foods containing phosphate additives. During a 4-week control period, eight adults were fed a balanced diet free of phosphate additives providing approximately 95 g protein, 0.7 g Ca and 1.0 g P per day. During a subsequent 4-week period, food items containing phosphate additives were substituted for counterpart items devoid of added phosphates. This diet contained 0.7 g Ca and 2.1 g P per day. The introduction of foods containing phosphate additives was associated with intestinal distress, soft stools or mild diarrhea. These symptoms subsided in six subjects but occurred intermittently throughout the experimental period in the other two subjects. The high-phosphorus diet induced increases in serum phosphorus and urinary phosphorus and decreases in serum calcium and urinary calcium. Hydroxyproline excretion in the urine was increased and cyclic AMP excretion was elevated in six of the eight subjects. These changes are analogous to those seen in experimental animals fed high-phosphorus diets which were shown to be due to enhanced parathyroid activity (secondary hyperparathyroidism). The use of phosphate food additives is discussed with respect to their possible stimulating effect on adult bone resorption.

KEY WORDS: • calcium • phosphorus • phosphate food additives

¹ Supported in part by NIH grant AM 17169.

² Present address: Department of Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.

Manuscript received 10 October 1975.