Avoiding the Toxic Effects of Aluminum
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3 John 1:2.
The headline is an article by Jacquelyn Waters which we found in our print edition of The Epoch Times dated June 22-28, 2022. The online edition has the story under this title: “Higher Concentrations of Aluminum in the Brains of Those With Alzheimer’s, Autism, and MS: The metal accumulates in the body and brain with dangerous consequences, but there are things you can do.”
The entire article is well worth reading, but it may not be fully accessible without being a subscriber. We are a subscriber, so we cannot say for sure if you may encounter a pay wall for access to the full article. Here is the link to the full article.
Here are just a few excerpts from it. All emphases and comments in [brackets] are mine.
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The human body is an electrochemical miracle. While we often think of it as a fleshy machine of sorts, it can be more likened to a constantly changing collection of chemicals and electrical signals that’s continuously rebuilding itself and responding to your mental state, food, air intake, physical activity, and environment.
This biochemical landscape of the human body is in delicate balance. An unfathomable series of reactions transforms the molecules of the food you eat and the air you breathe into the components of your body and the energy that fuels it.
Aluminum upsets the ebb and flow of a number of key molecules that play critical roles in balanced systems within the body, leading to serious health complications.
How are we exposed to aluminum? Is it really affecting our bodies? How can we protect ourselves?
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We expect that most of our readers are already aware of and avoid such things as aluminum cookware and deodorants or antiperspirants that contain aluminum, but many may not be aware that food is the main source of aluminum entering our bodies.
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For most individuals, food is a main source of aluminum exposure and may contribute to as much as 95 percent of aluminum concentration in the body, according to a research review article published in the French journal Médecine et Maladies Infectieuses.
Many fruits and vegetables naturally contain small amounts of aluminum. Of bigger concern are processed foods that include aluminum as an approved food additive. [We suspect that getting trace amounts of aluminum straight from organic food sources, as found in nature, is probably beneficial to the proper functioning of our bodies.]
Salim Saiyed and Robert Yokel of the University of Kentucky used spectrometry to quantify the amount of aluminum in some commonly eaten processed foods. They found that the aluminum content in the foods they tested ranged from 1 to 27,000 milligrams of aluminum per kilogram of food.
Their study, “Aluminium Content of Some Foods and Food Products in the USA, With Aluminium Food Additives,” was published in the journal Food Additives & Contaminants in 2005. Aluminium is the British spelling of aluminum.
In the study, cheese tested from frozen pizzas had as much as 14 mg of aluminum per serving. The aluminum came from sodium aluminum phosphate, an FDA-approved food additive. The same amount of cheese in a restaurant pizza had less than 1 mg of aluminum.
Saiyed and Yokel found that sodium aluminum phosphate was present in many food products. Baking powder, ready-to-eat pancakes, and several pancake and waffle mixes had the most aluminum out of all the foods tested. Some of these foods had up to 180 mg of aluminum per serving. … [Yikes!]
Other Sources of Aluminum
It’s well-known that antiperspirants contain aluminum. The metal is also found in cosmetic, hygiene, and hair products. Sunscreen frequently contains aluminum, as it prevents titanium dioxide particles from clumping.
Certain antacids, such as Maalox, contain aluminum hydroxide. Long-term use of these contributes to an increased aluminum load in the body.
Aluminum hydroxide is also used as a dye in the coating of some buffered aspirins. The dye FD&C yellow #6 aluminum lake is one example.
In the medical industry, injectable preparations may contain aluminum. Parenteral nutrition solutions are used to provide nutrition to patients who cannot efficiently absorb nutrients through their small intestine.
FDA regulation 201.323 limits the amount of aluminum allowed in these products, stating that it may not exceed 25 micrograms of aluminum per liter.
The regulation requires that a warning be inserted in all these products that includes the following: “Research indicates that patients with impaired kidney function, including premature neonates, who receive parenteral levels of aluminum at greater than 4 to 5 [micro]g/kg/day accumulate aluminum at levels associated with central nervous system and bone toxicity. Tissue loading may occur at even lower rates of administration.”
This means that for a premature baby, a toxic dose of aluminum would be approximately 8 to 28 mcg.
The Recombivax HB (hepatitis B vaccine), given to newborns, contains 250 mcg of aluminum adjuvant, according to the National Institutes of Health.
If a premature baby cannot tolerate more than 28 mcg of aluminum at most, can we assume all full-term newborn babies will be able to handle a 250 mcg aluminum load without adverse effects?
In addition to the hepatitis B vaccine, other vaccines that contain aluminum include the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis) vaccine, some influenza vaccines, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine, hepatitis A vaccine, and Gardasil’s HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine.
Where Does Absorbed Aluminum Go?
After it’s absorbed, aluminum is distributed widely to various tissues. Some of the aluminum is excreted in the urine, so long as the individual doesn’t have kidney disease. The aluminum that isn’t excreted accumulates in the bones, liver, lungs, and brain, according to the Médecine et Maladies Infectieuses review…
Accumulation of Aluminum in the Brain
While aluminum accumulation in the bones is concerning, what is more alarming is aluminum accumulation in the brain. Post-mortem studies have found the presence of aluminum in the brains of deceased individuals…
There’s no known biological role for aluminum in the brain. It’s not part of normal brain biochemistry. Instead, aluminum is highly disruptive to a large number of metabolic pathways in the brain.
Decades of research reveal that aluminum is neurotoxic. What is unclear is how much aluminum is too much. For example, is the concentration of aluminum in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or autism spectrum disorder higher than in individuals who don’t have any of these conditions?…
Protecting Yourself From Aluminum Toxicity
Exposure to aluminum is unavoidable, but there are ways to protect yourself from the toxic effects. First, certain trace elements are protective.
Studies published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (2013) and the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology (2014) demonstrate that the adverse neurological effects of aluminum may be prevented by consuming more silicon. Silicon forms aluminosilicate in the body, thus decreasing the amount of free aluminum available to damage cells.
Silicon occurs naturally in the form of silica, which is a transparent compound found in many rocks and in water. Certain water sources have higher amounts of silica than others.
For instance, water obtained from artesian wells in Fiji (bottled by Fiji Water) has a significant amount of silica. Unfortunately, many other kinds of bottled drinking water, such as Aquafina, are produced using reverse osmosis, which removes naturally occurring silica.
Selenium, another trace element that helps to protect against aluminum neurotoxicity, is a component of glutathione peroxidase, one of the most important antioxidants produced by the body.
Glutathione is biologically effective when it’s in its reduced form. The enzyme glutathione reductase is essential for replenishing the reduced form of glutathione in cells…
A third trace element shown to ameliorate the negative effects of aluminum in the brain is zinc.
In a study using rats published in BioMetals in 2015, zinc supplementation was found to increase reduced glutathione levels and reverse aluminum-induced neurodegeneration…
In addition to these trace elements, eating a diet high in polyphenols helps to protect you against the toxic effects of aluminum. Polyphenols are antioxidants that can be found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Finally, chelation therapy, which uses special supplements and drugs to bind metals in your body and remove them through excretion, can help to protect you. END QUOTE
We are wondering if homeopathic remedies might not also be effective in purging the body of toxic aluminum. Readers are encouraged to do their own further research on this subject.
Bio info: QUOTE: Jacquelyn Waters writes about health, science, and medicine. She has particular interest in all things neuroscience—from molecular neuroscience to psychology. She has 8 years of experience teaching college biology and received her Master’s degree in biomedical sciences with a specialization in neuroscience from Vanderbilt University. END QUOTE
We also came across this website of the Aluminum Research Group, in the UK which seems at a cursory glance to be loaded with information.
In the meantime, be wary of those frozen, ready-to-eat pancakes and frozen pizzas!
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