Most of the phosphorus in your body is found in your bones -- roughly 85 percent -- but the remaining 15 percent that's found in your soft tissues plays a critical role in the metabolic processes your body uses during exercise, including energy storage and production. Most of the phosphorus in your body is in the form of phosphate. Exercise can increase the level of phosphate in your bloodstream.
Increases
Both intense aerobic or anaerobic exercise reportedly increase the phosphate levels in your bloodstream. This is partly due to phosphate moving out of intracellular stores in your muscle and into your blood, according to "Macroelements, Water, and Electrolytes in Sports Nutrition," by Judy Anne Driskell and Ira Wolinsky.
Significance in Energy Systems
Athletes and scientists are interested in increasing phosphate levels in blood via exercise training or supplementation because this, in theory, may prevent fatigue and increase your physical working capacity. All energy storage and production processes in your body require phosphorylated compounds. These include adenosine triphosphate, commonly called ATP, and creatine phosphate, which is found in your muscle cells. ATP is the primary energy molecule your muscles use. Your body does not store much ATP, but can quickly manufacture this energy currency via a metabolic pathway that utilizes stored creatine phosphate. In essence, the creatine phosphate sends a high-energy phosphate group to another chemical in your body, adenosine diphosphate, commonly called ADP. This turns ADP into ATP. However, these are rapidly depleted during intense exercise. Thus, the theory goes that rapid restoration of ATP and creatine phosphate during and following exercise will enhance your endurance, performance and capacity.
Oxygen Delivery Significance
Also important in exercise, the phosphorus-containing molecule 2,3-diphosphoglycerate binds to the hemoglobin in your red blood, which affects oxygen delivery to your body's tissues. That means having more of this molecule theoretically improves oxygen delivery to muscles as you exercise, which improves exercise capacity.
Phosphate Loading
Not enough research has been done to determine if phosphate loading is a safe way to boost your exercise potential. Also, studies on whether this provides true benefits so far have produced mixed results, notes Jack H. Whilmore, lead author of "Physiology of Sport and Exercise." Your kidneys are extremely efficient at eliminating excess phosphate from the circulation. Hyperphosphatemia, or blood levels of phosphate that are too high, usually is only a problem if you've got kidney failure, or hypoparathyroidism, which is a deficiency of parathyroid hormone, according to Oregon State University. The most serious effect of hyperphosphatemia is calcification of body tissues, most commonly your kidneys, which can lead to organ damage.
Considerations
Elevated resting blood phosphorus levels are sometimes found in endurance athletes. While the cause for this hasn't been pinpointed scientifically, some researchers speculate it may be due to an inborn metabolic advantage, Driskell and Wolinsky note. It also may be the result of a metabolic effect that's caused by training. This may not be an advantage. When your body breaks down creatine phosphate in the process of forming ATP, the levels of another type of phosphate called inorganic phosphate rise. Newer research points to this type of phosphate as a major contributor to muscle fatigue that potentially is more significant than lactic acid buildup, according to Håkan Westerblad, lead author for a 2002 study in "Physiology."
References
- "Phosphate Supplementation in Exercise and Sport"; Richard B. Kreider, Exercise & Sport Nutrition Laboratory, University of Memphis
- Oregon State University: Phosphorus
- "Physiology"; Muscle Fatigue: Lactic Acid or Inorganic Phosphate the Major Cause?; Håkan Westerblad et al.; 2002
- "Physiology of Sport and Exercise"; Jack H. Whilmore et al.; 2008
- "Macroelements, Water, and Electrolytes in Sports Nutrition"; Judy Anne Driskell and Ira Wolinsky; 1999
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