Lack of Awareness among Future Medical Professionals about the Risk of Consuming Hidden Phosphate-Containing Processed Food and Drinks

Phosphate toxicity is an important determinant of mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), particularly those undergoing hemodialysis treatments. CKD patients are advised to take a low phosphate-containing diet, and are additionally prescribed with phosphate-lowering drugs. Since these patients usually seek guidance from their physicians and nurses for their dietary options, we conducted a survey to determine the levels of awareness regarding the high phosphate content in commercially processed food and drinks among medical and nursing students at the Hirosaki University School of Medicine in Japan. For this survey, 190 medical and nursing students (average age 21.7±3 years) were randomly selected, and provided with a list of questions aimed at evaluating their awareness of food and drinks containing artificially added phosphate ingredients. While 98.9% of these students were aware of the presence of sugar in commercially available soda drinks, only 6.9% were aware of the presence of phosphate (phosphoric acid). Similarly, only 11.6% of these students were aware of the presence of phosphate in commercially processed food, such as hamburgers and pizza. Moreover, around two thirds of the surveyed students (67.7%) were unaware of the harmful effects of unrestricted consumption of phosphate-containing food and drinks. About 28% of the surveyed students consume such “fast food” once a week, while 40% drink at least 1∼5 cans of soda drinks/week. After realizing the potential long-term risks of consuming excessive phosphate-containing food and drinks, 40.5% of the survey participants considered reducing their phosphate intake by minimizing the consumption of commercially processed “fast food” items and soda drinks. Moreover, another 48.4% of students showed interest in obtaining more information on the negative health effects of consuming excessive amounts of phosphate. This survey emphasizes the need for educational initiative to raise awareness of the health risks posed by excessive consumption of phosphate additives.

磷酸盐毒性是慢性肾脏病（chronic kidney disease, CKD）患者死亡的重要影响因素，尤以接受血液透析（hemodialysis）治疗的患者为甚。慢性肾脏病患者被建议采用低磷饮食，同时还会被开具降磷药物处方。鉴于此类患者通常会向医师及护士咨询饮食选择相关建议，我们开展了一项调查，以评估日本弘前大学医学院的医学生与护理学生对市售加工食品及饮料中高磷含量的认知水平。本次调查随机选取了190名医学生及护理学生（平均年龄21.7±3岁），向其发放了一套问卷，用以评估他们对含人工添加磷成分的食品及饮料的认知情况。尽管98.9%的受访者知晓市售碳酸饮料中含有糖分，但仅有6.9%的学生了解其中含有磷酸盐（磷酸）。类似地，仅有11.6%的学生知晓汉堡、披萨这类市售加工食品中含有磷酸盐。此外，约三分之二的受访学生（67.7%）并不了解无节制摄入含磷酸盐食品及饮料所带来的健康危害。约28%的受访学生每周食用一次此类“快餐”，另有40%的学生每周至少饮用1~5罐碳酸饮料。在了解到过量摄入含磷酸盐食品及饮料可能存在的长期健康风险后，40.5%的受访者计划通过减少市售“快餐”及碳酸饮料的摄入来降低磷酸盐摄入量。此外，另有48.4%的学生表示希望获取更多关于过量摄入磷酸盐对健康产生的负面影响的相关信息。本次调查表明，亟需开展教育活动以提升公众对过量摄入磷酸盐添加剂所带来的健康风险的认知水平。