I’ve had a few conversations with people who say cooking with aluminium foil is completely fine. I wanted to believe that, but I couldn’t see how cooking with that kind of metal could be good. There is a demand for aluminium free products like deodorants, dyes, make up, food, and so much more for a reason; it shouldn’t be in anything we consume or put on us.
Aluminum is naturally occurring in the Earth’s crust. It exists in soil, plants and water, it’s something we can’t completely avoid, but we don’t need to be consuming it.
According to Health Canada, about 95 percent of our aluminum intake comes our from food but only 1 percent is actually absorbed into our bodies.
So is there really a problem here?
Studies show that food cooked in aluminium foil can contain up to more than six times the level of safety for consumption.
Chemical engineering researchers at the American University of Sharjah, found that a single meal cooked in aluminium can have up to 400mg of the metal in it.
Here’s the kicker:
According to the World Health Organization, the most you’d want to consume is around 60mg per person, per day. When consumed in high doses, aluminium will accumulate in both our bones and brain. At high doses, the metal can accumulate in the bones and brain and too much of this build up can lead to Alzheimer’s and Osteoporosis.
Dr Fathia Mohammed and Dr Essam Zubaidy have investigated foil from China, India and Egypt and published four papers on their findings.
“The body can tolerate 1mg of aluminium per 1kg of bone weight before it accumulates in the brain, in the bone and so on,” “We tried to cover the food and also to put the food on the foil, to see the effect of contact,” ”To the naked eye, it looks fine, but under the microscope you see a big difference. The higher the temperature, the more the leaching. Foil is not suitable for cooking and is not suitable for using with vegetables like tomatoes, citrus juice or spices.”
-Dr. Zubaidy and Dr. Mohammed
A toxicologist at the same university noted that the use of salt, citric acid or vinegar increased the release of aluminium’s compounds.
However, he doubts that for healthy individuals the amount released is likely to be hazardous. “It’s important to look at the mechanism of aluminium in Alzheimer’s,” he said. “There is still some room for discovery.”
The team concluded that “excessive consumption of food cooked with aluminium foil can carry a serious health risk”.
Still not convinced?
The governmental National Center for Biotechnology Information concluded in their study that:
“…It is widely accepted that Al is a recognized neurotoxin, and that it could cause cognitive deficiency and dementia when it enters the brain and may have various adverse effects on CNS.In general, the absorption of metals by the gastrointestinal tract is widely variable and is influenced by various factors including an individual difference, age, pH, stomach contents.
Recent studies using mass spectrometry of 26Al have demonstrated that small, but a considerable amount of Al crosses the blood brain barrier, enters into the brain, and accumulates in a semipermanent manner.
Therefore, Al can cause severe health problems in particular populations, including infants, elderly people, and patients with impaired renal functions, and unnecessary exposure to Al should be avoided for such patients.”
The conclusion from these studies don’t suggest that aluminium will have immediate negative effects that last forever. It CAN lead to Alzheimers when exposed to for extended amounts of time. That doesn’t mean you will definitely develop it, there is simply a link that can be seen. It’s clear this metal, when consumed over a large period of time can accumulate in our brains and be the cause of several health problems.
Original Article