Phosphate diabetes is a condition in which there is an unwarranted loss of phosphates in the urine. The term diabetes only refers to the excessive discharge of urine. This leads to low phosphate levels (hypophosphatemia) in the body.
Phosphate is necessary for normal bones and teeth and also for normal energy processes inside cells. Clinically, low phosphate causes changes in nerve and muscle function and reduces bone quality by either causing a softening of the bones (osteomalacia and rickets) or causing porous and brittle bones (osteoporosis). There is more phosphate than calcium in bones, and there is a strong link between phosphate and calcium levels in the body. The symptoms of phosphate diabetes are pain in bones and joints, fatigue, depression, shortness of breath and low bone density. Researchers have recently linked chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) with phosphate diabetes, which suggests the possibility of treating chronic fatigue with vitamin D and phosphate supplements. (Phosphate diabetes has no connection with diabetes mellitus or sugar diabetes, where there is an excessive excretion of glucose in the urine.)
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