Phosphate depletion is the link between growth, stress and diet in the aetiology of MS.

Predisposition to multiple sclerosis (MS) can originate in adolescence, when nutrient requirement is high and not satisfied and because of too little food intake and/or a poor diet. Growth per se increases the need for phosphate, an often neglected mineral in clinical conditions. The combination of marginal nutrition (either under- or malnutrition) with a negative phosphate balance, physical exertion, infections or other types of stress during puberty can disturb metabolism and result in demyelinization. Phosphate depletion (PD) can lead to neurological complications, which have been characterized in experimental and clinical studies. Hypophosphataemia, whether acute or chronic, induced by stress from accident, surgery or burns, by infection and/or undernutrition, is therefore an important etiological factor. Low SP levels have been reported in MS patients and the hypothesis that PD causes MS is presented here.