eugenez@azure.UUCP (Eugene Zinter) (11/22/83)
SUBJECT: Aluminum and Alzheimer's Disease
In the SEP/OCT 1983 issue of "American Health" there appears an article
named "Alzheimer's & Aluminum: An Element of Suspicion" on pages 48-54.
What follows is taken from that article. Things in quotes are taken
directly from the article. Things in [brackets] are supplied by me.
"... widespread use of the metal [aluminum] started barely 50 years
ago."
"It may take decades for aluminum to build up to levels implicated
in nerve damage. And that's how long aluminum use has really been on the
rise."
"Doubts about this long-trusted metal first arose several years ago
in a special corner of medicine: lifesaving dialysis centers treating
patients whose kidneys had failed. Several times a week, the substitute
kidneys filtered body wastes from their blood stream. But some of the
patients started going mad. At first, the symptoms appeared only during
dialysis---trouble with talking, confusion and muscle spasms. ... Sliding
swiftly downhill, patients became helpless, demented, bedridden and died.
Doctors called the disease dialysis dementia."
"... Dr. Allen C. Alfrey, professor of medicine at the University
of Colorado and chief of Denver VA Hospital's kidney division ...
[discovered that] Autopsy analysis of the brains of dialysis-dementia
victoms furnished a strategic clue: high concentrations of aluminum in the
brain cells."
"It didn't take long to figure out where the aluminum might be
coming from. Large amounts of tap water go into the dialysis solution that
flushes wastes out of a patient's blood stream. Many municipalities rely
on aluminum for removing impurities from their water supply. The varying
metallic content of water in different locals would account for the
hit-or-miss occurrence of the dementia. In addition, dialysis patients
routinely swallowed huge amounts of aluminum in antacids to prevent the
accumulation of phosphorus in their blood, a common complication of
dialysis."
[THOUGHT: It's hard for me to believe that, at ANY time,
TAP water would be used for such a purpose!!!
How could they believe that ANY tap water would
be safe for such a thing as flushing wastes out
of the blood?]
"But everyone agrees on one thing: The light, bright metal has no
business in the brain."
"There is no known human need for aluminum."
"... only about 12% to 25% of the aluminum we consume seems to be
absorbed into the body, estimates Dr. Armand Lione, head of Associated
Pharmacologists and Toxicologists in Washington, DC. A typical daily
intake may be 22 milligrams of aluminum, though some people may get 100
times that."
[NOTE: That means some people are ingesting as much as 2.2 GRAMS of
ALUMINUM PER DAY!!!!]
"However, brain aluminum concentrations are about four [4] times
higher than normal in patients with Alzheimer's disease, even in regions
where all diets are high in aluminum. In addition to the telltale
aluminum, these patients' brain cells have become structurally damaged.
Scientists characteristically find two kinds of lesions: plaques and
tangles. Tangles are clumps of filaments that form within the nerve cell
body. A plaque is a hard knot of debris marking the site of a burned-out
nerve cell ending. It short-circuits pathways of communication from nerve
cell to nerve cell that is essential for all human activity."
"Many of the disordered cells in Alzheimer's disease either branch
out from or are located in what proves to be a critical place---the brain's
nucleus basilis. Researchers believe this region serves as a cerebral
activator, keeping higher brain levels from falling asleep, for example.
The region also turns out to be a rich source of the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine. This substance, studies now show, is important for
brain-cell processing of recent memory."
"The evidence is tantalizing: three nervous system disorders
marked by destructive cell changes and, within those very cells,
concentrations of aluminum where no aluminum ought to be. But the evidence
is also almost completely circumstancial."
"A bit of evidence that aluminum is directly toxic to brain cells
comes from animal studies conducted by Dr. Donald R. C. McLachlan, a
professor of physiology and medicine at the University of Toronto. In one
set of studies, he injected aluminum directly into cats' brains. Result:
behavioral changes similar to some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease."
"Neurofibrillar tangles appeared within the nerve cells, to, though
they were not exactly like the tangles seen in the human version. ... Dr.
Leopold Liss, a professor of pathology and psychiatry at Ohio State
University, fed aluminum to rabbits, thus more closely duplicating the way
people get an excess of the metal. Result: again neurofibrillar tangles,
though not identical to those seen in human Alzheimer's victims."
"... McLachlan is now testing ways to get the metal out of brain
cells. He gives intramuscular doses of a chelating agent, desferrioxamine,
twice daily. This iron compound binds with aluminum and escorts it out of
the body. He hopes it will stop the disease from progressing."
"Another approach is to give the chelating agent ethylenediamine
tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) intravenously. But this therapy requires careful
monitoring in a hospital and is hazardous to the kidneys."
[However aluminum gets in (there's some controversy on how it does it's
dirty work) much of can be kept out by simply NOT ingesting those foods,
etc. that contain aluminum.]
"... many municipal water-treatment systems add aluminum to help
remove solid particles such as plant debris. Aluminum attaches to these
impurities and sinks them to the bottom, leaving the water attractively
clear. But, inevitably, some of the metal remains in the water supply."
"Aluminum is also a common additive in food and some medicines. We
use sodium aluminum phospate, a leavening agent, in household baking
powder, self-rising flour, cake mix, pancake batter and frozen dough.
Other aluminum-containing additives emulsify processed cheese, especially
the individually wrapped slices, so it melts easily."
"A SINGLE SLICE OF PROCESSED CHEESE MAY CONTAIN 50 MILLIGRAMS OF
ALUMINUM OR MORE. [capitals supplied by me---I wonder how Velveeta scores
here?]"
"And aluminum's anti-caking properties make it useful in nondairy
creamers, table salt and other powdered foods."
"Most over-the-counter indigestion remedies (one notable exception
is Tums, which depends on calcium carbonate) contain large amounts of
aluminum hydroxide to soothe unsettled stomaches. Similarly, buffered
aspirins often use aluminum compounds to counteract aspirin's irritation of
the stomach lining. Read the label on your antiperspirant or deodorant,
and you're likely to find aluminum. Check hemorrhoid preperations, too.
Some have up to 50% aluminum hydroxide."
"And then there's the kitchen: pots, pans, cans and foils. When we
cook or store highly acidic, alkaline or salty foods like tomatoes,
sauerkraut, citrus fruits and carbonated drinks in aluminum containers,
some of the metal leaches out into the food."
"Here's the rub. Originally, everyone thought aluminum was safe
because it wasn't absorbed by the body. Whatever else we learn from the
Alzheimer's generation, we have discovered that aluminum can damage the
brain and that a lot of it gets into our bodies."
[So there you have it, another substance that I bet you didn't even know
you were ingesting! Or if you did, you probably thought it couldn't be
very much!!! I wonder how many substances that WE humans are actually
ingesting that we aren't really aware of---and how long we take to discover
it---tragically, many times too late. For a person who is interested in
optimum health, I think that these recent articles on caffeine, smoking,
formaldehyde, chemical additives to foods such as ice cream, etc. SHOULD
prompt us to take on more RESPONSIBILITY in finding out WHAT we are REALLY
eating. To become more educated as to what is actually IN our food.
Instead of depending on "big brother" or "the scientists" or (you-pick-it)
on making sure everything is "safe" for us. After all, these people are
only human.]
[I make it a personal policy that if there is ANY doubt in my mind about
the safety of a substance, then I do the simple thing:
I DON'T USE IT!!! THAT IS, I DON'T EAT IT, DRINK IT, BREATHE IT,
RUB IT ON MY SKIN, ETC.
And if that's not feasable (like polluted air),
I MINIMIZE it's USE ANY WAY I CAN.
For instance, with aluminum, I might not be able
to QUIT using it 100%, but I bet I can reduce the
amount that gets into my body by 90% to 95%.
However, had I not been AWARE of the problem,
I could be heading towards Alzheimer's disease
without knowing what I could have done to prevent
it.
Doing that should be far safer than the usual dodge
(said with an all knowing smile):
'Why worry about it---there's so many other
things that are poisoning you and you're
going to die anyway. ENJOY LIFE NOW!'
... Tell that to the Alzheimer Patients.
They would do anything to NOT have this
disease.
With MY approach, there is NO worry (stress) about what it will do to
you---and you don't risk experiencing the 10 or 50 year later side effects
either.]
ECZ
4 Mon 21-Nov-83 11:55 AMjudd@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/27/83)
............
Now that we have established that Aluminum is a problem we need an answer to
the question that started all this - how much Al do you get from using Aluminum
pans and under what conditions is it leached out of the pan? I have not
seen an answer to this question yet.
--
Spoken: Judd Rogers
Arpa: judd.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Uucp:...{allegra,seismo}!umcp-cs!juddkoved@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/28/83)
But, even if aluminum gets into our bodies from using these pots and pans, is the aluminum absorbed into our bodies, and is it the same form of al which is causing neurological damage???????????? Larry
leimkuhl@uiuccsb.UUCP (11/30/83)
#R:azure:-236600:uiuccsb:7000018:000:378 uiuccsb!leimkuhl Nov 30 18:39:00 1983 I have an aluminum teapot that I use every morning to boil water for coffee, I wonder if that's a danger. My mother recently threw away all her aluminum cookware (including some large casseroles and an expensive soup pot). She's completely convinced of the link. Is there anyone on the net with more current information? Ben Leimkuhler (uiucdcs!uiuccsb!leimkuhl)
sdo@u1100a.UUCP (12/01/83)
I always cook on Teflon because it gets absorbed into the blood which can then slide right past cholesterol deposits in the blood vessels. Recent studies have shown that people with advanced arthritis of the "n-key finger" (common among netnews readers) have teflon deficiencies in their joints. Since I experience no such problems, I assume that my Teflon intake is adequate. Does anyone know if Silverstone is an effective substitute - Teflon is getting hard to find lately? Just be careful when the coating is worn off the cookware - there's Aluminum under there!! Not Worth Signing
billp@azure.UUCP (Bill Pfeifer) (12/02/83)
>> I have an aluminum teapot that I use every morning to boil >> water for coffee, I wonder if that's a danger. Probably not. Aluminum metal forms a pretty tough oxide in contact with air. It takes an acid, such as vinegar, to break it down and dissolve some of the metal. The main source of aluminum in the diet is not cookware, but probably antacids, especially the liquid kind. According to the ingredient label on a local store-brand, a normal dose contains 250mg of aluminum hydroxide. Bill Pfeifer
eric@apollo.UUCP (Eric Peters) (12/06/83)
I just made some brownies last night, and noted that my baking powder has sodiumsilicoaluminate in it as an anti caking agent. It is the only brand of baking powder that my favorite grocery carries. Any ideas for brands and sources of good old fashioned baking powder (no aluminum)? Maybe I'll end up making my own - it can't be difficult! Isn't it just baking soda and cream of tartar? Recipes??? I realize that the connection between aluminum compounds and health effects is not proved, but aluminum provides so little advantage, why take chances? Has anyone noted the analogy to the Roman Empire's problems with lead (they actually made COOKING VESSELS out of it!!! :-) How stupid of them.) Eric (...decvax!wivax!apollo!eric)
judd@umcp-cs.UUCP (12/07/83)
..........
How acidic does food need to be before it will break down the AlO2 coating
and leach out Al?? How much Al are you likely to get from tipical acidic
foods (in mg)
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY GOOD FIGURES OR REASONABLE SPECULATIONS?
--
Spoken: Judd Rogers
Arpa: judd.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Uucp:...{allegra,seismo}!umcp-cs!juddthomas@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas) (12/08/83)
I bet the Joy of Cooking has a "recipe" for baking powder. =Spencer
cas@cvl.UUCP (Cliff Shaffer) (12/09/83)
Rumford Baking powder does not have aluminum in it - only corn starch,
baking soda and (is that cream of tarter?). It seems to be easy enough
to find in the supermarkets around the DC area.
Cliff Shaffer
{we13,mcnc,seismo}!rlgvax!cvl!casmax@ucbcad.UUCP (12/15/83)
#R:azure:-238800:ucbcad:8000007:000:357 ucbcad!max Dec 8 19:48:00 1983 Two kinds of baking powder are widely available: one uses an aluminum compound as the acidulating agent (Calumet, Clabber Girl, etc.) while the other does not (Rumford comes to mind). This is far more important than the choice of anti-caking component, which makes up a much smaller fraction of the mixture. Max Hauser, University of California, Berkeley
lmeck@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Loren Meck) (12/16/83)
Given the low reactivity of lead, I find it very dificult to believe that the use of lead for cookware gave the Romans any trouble. I was under the impression that use of lead (and other heavy metal) salts for pigments caused their trouble, though the long-term storage of vinegar, etc., in lead vessels could have contributed. Didn't the Romans also use tin? Tin is also poisonous and much more reactive than lead; it would be troublesome if used in cookware.