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| This is not the first study to suggest that as little as 12.5% of the suggested upper limit for phosphorus can make a big difference when it comes to weight loss and the ease of weight loss when you battle reduced diet-induced thermogenesis & increased appetite. |
Recently, scientists from the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon (Bassil. 2016), have observed that "P supplementation recovers the blunted diet-induced thermogenesis in overweight and obese subjects and enhances their postprandial satiety" (Bassil. 2016).
Phosphates have also been touted as buffer for athletes, but apper less effective than NaHCO3:
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Since diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) is believed to be largely related to ATP production, which is dependent on phosphorus (P) availability, Bassil and Omar speculated that supplementing extra phosphorus to lean and overweight/obese healthy subjects should have beneficial effects on their diet-induced thermogenesis. Accordingly, they measured the latter with or without P in 10 lean and 13 overweight/obese adults in a double-blind randomized cross-over pilot study with a one week washout period that was meant to exclude any possible interference of the previous trial.
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| Figure 1: Diet-induced thermogenesis after drinking 75 g glucose solution with and without phosphorus supplementation in lean and obese subjects. (A) Resting metabolic rate at baseline and over 3 h (180 min) after drinking 75 g glucose solution in lean and obese subjects with phosphorus (solid lines) or placebo (dashed lines); (B) Total area under the curve of RMR with phosphorus (solid bars) or placebo (dashed bars) in lean and obese subjects (Bassil. 2016). |
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| Correlation between daily dietary P intake and subjects' BMI (Bassil. 2016). |
Speaking of explanations... a 2006 study by Mataix, et al. shows that Spaniards who consume more energy than they'd need have an increased risk of suboptimal phosphate intakes. The same goes for people with low education (Mataix. 2006). Both could point to phosphate intakes as a correlate not a cause of reduced obesity risks. Furthermore, we must not forget that US citizens with the highest phosphorus intakes happen to have an increased risk of mortality (Chang. 2014). This association with mortality risk, however, well be unrelated to phosphorus and a simple result of the high amounts of phosphates you will also find in processed foods. In this case, phosphorus would rather be a marker of increased junk food intake, which in turn could be the actual reason for an increase in mortality risk - an increased risk that may, however, eventually be a result of a messed up balance between phosphorus, calcium and magnesium.
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| Figure 2: Subjective appetite scores of lean (gray) and obese (black) subjects, 3 h after drinking 75 g glucose solution with phosphorus (solid bars) or placebo (dashed bars) supplementation (Bassil. 2016). |
- Overweight/obese subjects had a blunted DIT with placebo.
- P supplementation induced a 23% increase in their DIT area under the curve (p < 0.05).
- The increase in DIT was associated with an increase in carbohydrate oxidation.
- All subjects, obese or lean had lower appetite following P supplementation.
- The decrease was expressed as a significantly (p = 0.02) lower desire to eat a meal (4.0 ± 0.7 cm) compared with placebo (5.8 ± 0.9 cm).
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| High phosphorus intakes and/or supplementation accelerated the fat loss in a previous study sign. |
Everyone? Well, I guess another two qualifications have to be made: (a) If the effect is, indeed, as the scientists speculate, mediated by ATP, it is not unlikely that the benefits depend on the co-consumption of glucose or rather carbohydrates. Accordingly, low carbers may benefit less, maybe even not at all. And (b) low carbers have another "disadvantage" with respect to phosphorus supplementation: With plenty of the foods you see in the photo at the top-right, their phosphorus intake usually is already very high - increasing it, even more, may thus have no effect irrespective of the glucose intake. Plus: Eventually, you must keep an eye on the balance between phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium. While a healthy kidney helps to balance serum imbalances out, adding another 1,500 mg of phosphorus or 37,5% of the upper intake limit for phosphorus (4g/day) to your diet with the 500mg extra phosphorus you'd take with e.g. three daily meals could increase your long-term calcium and magnesium requirements to a certain degree - a degree that you will probably cover automatically if you get your phosphorus from foods, not supplements, because only the former (e.g. dairy) come packaged with all important co-factors | Comment!
- Bassil, Maya S., and Omar A. Obeid. "Phosphorus Supplementation Recovers the Blunted Diet-Induced Thermogenesis of Overweight and Obese Adults: A Pilot Study." Nutrients 8.12 (2016): 801.
- Chang, Alex R., et al. "High dietary phosphorus intake is associated with all-cause mortality: results from NHANES III." The American journal of clinical nutrition 99.2 (2014): 320-327.
- Mataix, José, et al. "Factors influencing the intake and plasma levels of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium in southern Spain." European journal of nutrition 45.6 (2006): 349-354.