Fuentes ocultas de fósforo: presencia de aditivos con contenido en fósforo en los alimentos procesados

Introduction

Dietary intake of processed food with phosphorus-containing additives is increasing. We aimed to compare phosphorus levels in processed foods determined by spectrophotometry and the reported content according to Higher Education Center for Nutrition and Dietetics (CESNID) food composition tables.

Material and methods

We selected 46 products distributed in the following groups: dairy products, cereals, ham and sausage-type meat, refrigerated uncooked meat and poultry, frozen uncooked meat, poultry and fish, and refrigerated or frozen processed products. The presence of phosphate-containing additives was determined by using the nutrition label. The measured phosphorus determined by spectrophotometry was compared with the reported phosphorus recorded in CESNID food composition tables.

Results

Phosphorus content and the phosphorus/protein ratio were higher in products whose nutrition-facts labels indicated phosphate-containing additives. The phosphorus determined by spectrophotometry was usually higher than the phosphorus level in food composition tables. These tables barely reflected the phosphorus content of refrigerated/processed foods.

Conclusions

Information about the phosphorus content of processed foods is generally unavailable, and a disparity between measured (spectrometry) and reported phosphorus (food composition tables) is common. Information and educational programs are essential to make patients with renal disease aware of the existence of foods with phosphate additives. Calls for labeling the content of phosphorus in processed foods are appropriate, and incentives could be provided to process low-phosphorus foods and alternatives to phosphate-containing additives.