Objective: Assessment of the physiological effects of a diet rich in phosphorus in young women. Design: Control period I Ð commercial basic diet containing 1700 mg P and 1500 mg Caaday for 4 weeks. Supplementation period Ð a 6 week high-phosphorus period of 3008 mg P and 1995 mg Caaday. Control period II Ð 4 weeks washout with basic diet as in period I. Setting: Institute of Nutritional Science, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. Subjects: Ten healthy women, aged 20 ± 30 y. Interventions: Orange juice and tablets, containing supplements of Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 OH and NaH 2 PO 4 , totalling 1436 mg elemental phosphorus per day. Results: There was an increase of 10.7 AE 13.7 pgaml in serum PTH, a decrease of 0.6AE 0.6 ngaml in serum osteocalcin, an increase of 73.6 AE 136.6 nmolammol creatinine in urinary pyridinoline and of 19.3 AE 36.0 nmola mmol creatinine in urinary deoxypyridinoline, and a decrease of 2.6 AE 9.3 mgal in urinary microalbumin. All changes were insigni®cant. There were no changes in serum levels of Ca, PO 4 or Zn, in serum concentration of 1,25-(OH) 2 D 3 , and in urinary b-2-microglobulin excretion. Phosphorus supplementation caused intestinal distress, soft stools or mild diarrhoea. Conclusions: In spite of a high phosphorus supplementation no signi®cant changes in bone-related hormones, pyridinium crosslinks as markers of bone resorption and parameters of renal function in young women were found.