The Source of Phosphorus in Diet of 17 Year Old Youth

Abstract

Introduction. Phosphorus is an element naturally occurring in foods. A large amount of this compound is also added to foods such as emulsifiers, stabilizers, and rippers. The growing popularity of high-processed foods is becoming a problem, because in the diets children and young people followed excess phosphorus intake.

Thepurpose of this work was an evaluation of consumption of phosphorus and showing its sources in daily food ration of school children of age 17 years from Kuyavian-Pomeranian province.

Materials and methods. Information about the composition of ingested food ration was obtained by interview of 24 hours. On the basis of information on consumption and a phosphorus content in 100 g of food products, phosphorus content in daily food ration was calculated. The values obtained were compared with the norm for people aged 16-18 years old (EAR = 1050 mg/person/day). Next the percentage of phosphorus from the six food groups in food rations for girls and boys were calculated, defining the structure of the element consumed. Differentiation of gender-related phosphorus intake was conducted by Mann-Whitney U test. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistica.

Results. The analysis showed that the diet of young people was characterized by a high content of phosphorus. The average content of phosphorus in the daily food ration of boys was 1939.8±62.7 mg/person/day, representing 184.7% of the average demand for phosphorus (EAR). In the group of girls, phosphorus intake was significantly lower than in boys - 1245.7±38.4 mg/person/day, representing 118.6% of the EAR. The main sources of phosphorus in the diet were grain products, potatoes and animal products (milk and dairy products, meat, sausages, fish and eggs).

Conclusions. Excessive intake of phosphorus was found in the diet of young people. 3 groups of food products were the source of over 80% of ingested phosphorus.