Phosphorus, food by food
Ranking · Phosphorus · listed only
Listed only, outside the score (the 0-to-1 number that orders foods for a goal, built from 22 other nutrients), and with no absorption figure: the foods below are ranked by the amount the databases list in one serving.
A building block of your bones and teeth, of DNA, and of the molecule your cells use to store energy.
An adult is advised to get about 700 mg a day. ?
How we counted this
Health Canada’s Dietary Reference Intakes, adults 19–30. The word beside each food says how much of that one serving gives.
The plain words beside each food: “a lot” means one serving gives at least 20% of the daily amount, “some” at least 10%, “a little” at least 2%; below that it says “almost none”. Each row prints its percentage of the daily amount, rounded to a whole number, and the word is read from that printed percentage (a row at 9.6% prints 10% and reads “some”). The cut-offs are ours, one set for every page: 20% and 10% are borrowed from the US labelling terms “high” and “good source”, and applied to Health Canada’s daily amount; Health Canada’s own shopper rule says 15%, and we keep one number so a percentage never changes meaning (provisional: they may change in a later method version).
What it does: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, phosphorus fact sheet for health professionals. How much a day: Health Canada, Dietary reference intakes tables: Reference values for elements.
Most per serving: Beef liver, pan-fried (485 mg), then Chicken liver, simmered and Whey protein concentrate.
Listed amounts, not what your body absorbs. Where a human study measured absorption, the food’s page shows it. ?
How we counted this
Listed for 194 of the 198 preparations on this page (150 foods). The other 4 aren’t zero, just not listed: see “Not listed” below.
191 of them are ranked below, by what one serving gives; the other 3 list it but have no serving size on file, so they follow, per 100 g.
The 159 reviewed foods (229 preparations) are counted here, and raw and cooked spinach are two preparations of one food. Each row below is one preparation, and 198 of them are on this page. The other 31 are left out: 19 raw or dry forms of a food ranked as eaten (listed below) and 12 fortified foods. Imported foods are listed separately below, not ranked. Every amount here is copied from the national food databases, as published. A serving’s weight is shown rounded, and the amount is worked from its exact weight, so a row can differ slightly from weight times the per-100 g figure.
- 1
A lot485mg485 mg / 100 g - 2
A lot405mg405 mg / 100 g - 3
A lot396mg1,321 mg / 100 g - 4
A lot347mg1,155 mg / 100 g - 5
A lot345mg1,150 mg / 100 g - 6
A lot338mg338 mg / 100 g - 7
A lot306mg306 mg / 100 g - 8
A lot300mg545 mg / 100 g - 9
A lot285mg285 mg / 100 g - 10
A lot278mg278 mg / 100 g - 11
A lot273mg127 mg / 100 g - 12
A lot270mg490 mg / 100 g - 13
A lot266mg101 mg / 100 g - 14
A lot252mg252 mg / 100 g - 15
A lot251mg251 mg / 100 g - 16A lot242mg92 mg / 100 g
- 17
A lot228mg228 mg / 100 g - 18
A lot226mg266 mg / 100 g - 19
A lot223mg245 mg / 100 g - 20
A lot216mg216 mg / 100 g - 21
A lot213mg152 mg / 100 g - 22
A lot212mg706.9 mg / 100 g - 23
A lot204mg204 mg / 100 g - 24
A lot204mg204 mg / 100 g - 25
A lot203mg105 mg / 100 g - 26
A lot203mg162 mg / 100 g - 27
A lot200mg667 mg / 100 g - 28
A lot193mg642 mg / 100 g - 29
A lot193mg154 mg / 100 g - 30
A lot192mg641 mg / 100 g - 31
A lot190mg77 mg / 100 g - 32
A lot189mg629 mg / 100 g - 33
A lot188mg180 mg / 100 g - 34
A lot186mg338 mg / 100 g - 35
A lot182mg165 mg / 100 g - 36
A lot179mg358 mg / 100 g - 37A lot174mg90 mg / 100 g
- 38
A lot173mg314 mg / 100 g - 39
A lot172mg574 mg / 100 g - 40
A lot172mg172 mg / 100 g - 41
A lot166mg144 mg / 100 g - 42
A lot160mg533 mg / 100 g - 43
A lot160mg532.2 mg / 100 g - 44
A lot159mg212 mg / 100 g - 45
A lot155mg259 mg / 100 g - 46
A lot155mg135 mg / 100 g - 47
A lot151mg502.9 mg / 100 g - 48
A lot146mg168 mg / 100 g - 49
A lot144mg103 mg / 100 g - 50
A lot144mg169 mg / 100 g - 51
A lot141mg471 mg / 100 g - 52
A lot141mg469 mg / 100 g - 53
A lot138mg138 mg / 100 g - 54
A lot137mg458 mg / 100 g - 55
A lot137mg249 mg / 100 g - 56
Some136mg226 mg / 100 g - 57
Some133mg147 mg / 100 g - 58
Some129mg860 mg / 100 g - 59
Some127mg140 mg / 100 g - 60Some121mg97 mg / 100 g
- 61
Some119mg217 mg / 100 g - 62
Some116mg101.2 mg / 100 g - 63
Some114mg380.4 mg / 100 g - 64
Some113mg225 mg / 100 g - 65
Some110mg105 mg / 100 g - 66
Some110mg732 mg / 100 g - 67
Some110mg365.1 mg / 100 g - 68
Some109mg363 mg / 100 g - 69
Some107mg113 mg / 100 g - 70
Some104mg694 mg / 100 g - 71
Some104mg691.3 mg / 100 g - 72
Some98.3mg327.6 mg / 100 g - 73
Some87.5mg125 mg / 100 g - 74
Some85.6mg214 mg / 100 g - 75
Some84.2mg153 mg / 100 g - 76
Some83.5mg556.4 mg / 100 g - 77
Some83.2mg208 mg / 100 g - 78
Some83.1mg92 mg / 100 g - 79
Some82.5mg97 mg / 100 g - 80
Some82mg149 mg / 100 g - 81
Some79.1mg93.05 mg / 100 g - 82
Some78.1mg71 mg / 100 g - 83
Some76.5mg139 mg / 100 g - 84
Some76.2mg508 mg / 100 g - 85Some75.4mg137 mg / 100 g
- 86Some73.1mg86 mg / 100 g
- 87
Some69.7mg85 mg / 100 g - 88
Some67.2mg79 mg / 100 g - 89
Some66.8mg78.54 mg / 100 g - 90
A little65.5mg77 mg / 100 g - 91A little60.9mg87 mg / 100 g
- 92
A little60.2mg43 mg / 100 g - 93
A little59.4mg54 mg / 100 g - 94
A little58.2mg388 mg / 100 g - 95
A little57mg67 mg / 100 g - 96
A little56.5mg186 mg / 100 g - 97
A little54.3mg181 mg / 100 g - 98
A little51mg60 mg / 100 g - 99
A little50.3mg335 mg / 100 g - 100
A little49.3mg58 mg / 100 g - 101
A little47.6mg56 mg / 100 g - 102
A little47.6mg34 mg / 100 g - 103
A little47.6mg56 mg / 100 g - 104
A little46.8mg55 mg / 100 g - 105
A little46.3mg115.8 mg / 100 g - 106
A little45.9mg54 mg / 100 g - 107
A little44.5mg17 mg / 100 g - 108
A little44.2mg52 mg / 100 g - 109
A little44mg40 mg / 100 g - 110A little41.7mg49 mg / 100 g
- 111
A little40.4mg36.73 mg / 100 g - 112
A little36.4mg26 mg / 100 g - 113A little35.7mg42 mg / 100 g
- 114
A little35.7mg42 mg / 100 g - 115
A little35.7mg42 mg / 100 g - 116
A little35.2mg32 mg / 100 g - 117
A little35.2mg9 mg / 100 g - 118
A little34.9mg24.93 mg / 100 g - 119
A little34.8mg24.86 mg / 100 g - 120A little34.5mg40.56 mg / 100 g
- 121
A little33.8mg39.81 mg / 100 g - 122
A little33.8mg9 mg / 100 g - 123
A little33.7mg39.69 mg / 100 g - 124
A little32.6mg23.25 mg / 100 g - 125
A little32.3mg38 mg / 100 g - 126
A little32.2mg23 mg / 100 g - 127
A little32.2mg22.98 mg / 100 g - 128
A little32.1mg107 mg / 100 g - 129
A little31.5mg37 mg / 100 g - 130
A little30.8mg22 mg / 100 g - 131
A little30.8mg22 mg / 100 g - 132
A little28.9mg34 mg / 100 g - 133
A little28.9mg34 mg / 100 g - 134
A little28.1mg33 mg / 100 g - 135
A little28.1mg33 mg / 100 g - 136
A little28mg20 mg / 100 g - 137
A little27.2mg32 mg / 100 g - 138
A little26.6mg166 mg / 100 g - 139
A little25.9mg30.51 mg / 100 g - 140
A little25.6mg17.08 mg / 100 g - 141
A little25.5mg17 mg / 100 g - 142
A little24.8mg62 mg / 100 g - 143
A little24.7mg29 mg / 100 g - 144A little24.7mg29 mg / 100 g
- 145
A little24mg30 mg / 100 g - 146
A little23mg27 mg / 100 g - 147
A little22.9mg26.93 mg / 100 g - 148
A little22.2mg76 mg / 100 g - 149
A little22.1mg26 mg / 100 g - 150
A little22mg27.47 mg / 100 g - 151
A little21.6mg17.31 mg / 100 g - 152
A little19.9mg23.41 mg / 100 g - 153
A little19.7mg23.23 mg / 100 g - 154
A little19.6mg14 mg / 100 g - 155
A little18.4mg21.6 mg / 100 g - 156
A little18.2mg13 mg / 100 g - 157
A little17mg20 mg / 100 g - 158
A little16.8mg12 mg / 100 g - 159
A little16.2mg19.09 mg / 100 g - 160
A little14.5mg95 mg / 100 g - 161
A little14.2mg16.75 mg / 100 g - 162
A little13.7mg9.78 mg / 100 g - 163
A little12.8mg15 mg / 100 g - 164
A little12.7mg42.38 mg / 100 g - 165
A little11.2mg8 mg / 100 g - 166
Almost none10.4mg13 mg / 100 g - 167
Almost none10.4mg12.96 mg / 100 g - 168
Almost none8.8mg11 mg / 100 g - 169Almost none8.76mg58 mg / 100 g
- 170
Almost none7.59mg5.42 mg / 100 g - 171
Almost none7.5mg3 mg / 100 g - 172
Almost none6.12mg153 mg / 100 g - 173
Almost none6mg20 mg / 100 g - 174
Almost none5.76mg288 mg / 100 g - 175
Almost none4.26mg28 mg / 100 g - 176
Almost none3.23mg8.06 mg / 100 g - 177
Almost none2.93mg21 mg / 100 g - 178Almost none2.5mg1 mg / 100 g
- 179
Almost none2.5mg1 mg / 100 g - 180
Almost none2.4mg24 mg / 100 g - 181Almost none2.4mg24 mg / 100 g
- 182
Almost none2.1mg7 mg / 100 g - 183
Almost none1.6mg2 mg / 100 g - 184
Almost none0.8mg4 mg / 100 g - 185
Almost none0.42mg8 mg / 100 g - 186
Almost none0mg0 mg / 100 g - 187
Almost none0mg0 mg / 100 g - 188
Almost none0mg0 mg / 100 g - 189
Almost none0mg0 mg / 100 g - 190Almost none0mg0 mg / 100 g
- 191Almost none0mg0 mg / 100 g
Not ranked in this view
These list Phosphorus but have no serving size on file yet.
Not listed
The databases don’t list Phosphorus for these foods: left out, not counted as zero.
Not yet reviewed · shown per 100 g, not per serving
Straight from the national databases, not yet checked, so not ranked. The list can include dried foods, spices and fortified products that a review would set aside.
No serving size yet, so shown per 100 g, even under “per serving”.
Not compared with the upper level: with no serving size, a figure for 100 g of a powder or a concentrate says nothing about what anyone eats. Choose an amount under “per 100 g” to compare one.
- Leavening agents, baking powder, double-acting, straight phosphate · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)9,918 mgper 100 g
- Leavening agents, baking powder, low-sodium · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)6,869 mgper 100 g
- Puddings, all flavors except chocolate, low calorie, instant, dry mix · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)2,368 mgper 100 g
- Leavening agents, baking powder, double-acting, sodium aluminum sulfate · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)2,191 mgper 100 g
- Seeds, cottonseed meal, partially defatted (glandless) · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,684 mgper 100 g
- Rice bran, crude · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,677 mgper 100 g
- Puddings, chocolate flavor, low calorie, instant, dry mix · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,660 mgper 100 g
- Seeds, hemp seed, hulled · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,650 mgper 100 g
- Beverages, Cocoa mix, low calorie, powder, with added calcium, phosphorus, aspartame, without added sodium or vitamin A · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,630 mgper 100 g
- Babyfood, cereal, soya, with fruit, dry · Canadian Nutrient File 20261,625 mgper 100 g
- Seeds, cottonseed flour, partially defatted (glandless) · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,597 mgper 100 g
- Seeds, cottonseed flour, low fat (glandless) · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,587 mgper 100 g
- Lemonade with artificial sweetener, powder · Canadian Nutrient File 20261,554 mgper 100 g
- Babyfood, cereal, oat, dry · Canadian Nutrient File 20261,474 mgper 100 g
- Beverages, nutritional shake mix, high protein, powder · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,429 mgper 100 g
- Smelt, dried (Alaska Native) · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,400 mgper 100 g
- Babyfood, cereal, mixed grain, dry · Canadian Nutrient File 20261,379 mgper 100 g
- Whey, acid, dried · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,349 mgper 100 g
- Cereals ready-to-eat, SUN COUNTRY, KRETSCHMER Toasted Wheat Bran · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,314 mgper 100 g
- Gelatin desserts, dry mix, reduced calorie, with aspartame · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)1,293 mgper 100 g
Ranked as eaten. Where a food is also listed in a form people eat, these forms are left out: raw meat, poultry, fish and eggs (their cooked forms are ranked), dry grains and legumes, and frozen vegetables before cooking. Raw oysters stay: they have no other form.
Which 19 are left out?
- raw ground beef
- Beef liver, raw
- Beef steak, top loin, raw
- raw chicken breast
- Chicken thigh, raw
- Chicken liver, raw
- Cod, raw
- raw eggs
- dry lentils
- raw mackerel
- dry rolled oats
- dry pasta
- dry whole-wheat pasta
- frozen peas
- Pork chop, raw
- Pork sausage, raw
- dry quinoa
- raw farmed salmon
- Ground turkey, 93% lean, raw
12 fortified foods are left out: makers add vitamins and minerals in amounts that vary by brand, so check the label for phosphorus: Oat drink, unsweetened, fortified · Soy drink, unsweetened, fortified · Pasta, cooked · Cakes · White bread, toasted · Almond drink, unsweetened, fortified · White bread · Flour tortillas · Crackers · Breakfast cereal · Cookies · Pies
Running low, and too much
Running low
Low phosphorus is rare and almost never comes from diet: it is usually caused by a medical condition, and brings loss of appetite, anemia, muscle weakness, bone pain and confusion.
Too much
High phosphorus intakes rarely cause problems in healthy people. The upper level, 4,000 mg a day for adults up to 70 and 3,000 mg from 71, is set on the intake that keeps blood phosphate normal.
Sources: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, phosphorus fact sheet for health professionals (2023-05-04) · Upper levels (adults 19–30): Health Canada, Dietary reference intakes tables: elements (2025-11-19)