Phosphorus in excess: a 'nutrient pollution' problem in the blood--broken hearts like broken lakes (eutrophication)?

摘要

Phosphorus, an element that poses a worldwide water quality 'nutrient pollution' problem via lake eutrophication (excessive nutrients in a lake or other body of water) because of increased levels, now appears to pose a 'nutrient pollution' problem in the blood. Blood phosphate levels are increasingly recognized as a cardiovascular risk factor in patients with chronic kidney disease as well as those under dialysis (Ganesh et ah, 2001). Moreover, this association has been recently extended to healthy normal individuals in whom blood phosphate levels in the high-normal range were shown to be associated with an increased coronary artery calcium content (Foley et ah, 2009), this latter being strongly associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease risk.