Death of Alzheimer victim linked to aluminium pollution
Brain autopsy of pollution victim rekindles contaminant fears.
Fears of a link between aluminium and Alzheimer’s disease have been reignited by the case of a British woman who died of the illness 16 years after an industrial accident polluted her local drinking water.
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Dr. Perl's reassurances about the unavailability of aluminum from cookware does not take into account a growing body of studies exposing the synergistic effect of aluminum and fluoride whereby there is increased transport of both into the brain. An October 28, l992 Wall Street Journal article makes this link and states that "several controversial studies...found that Alzheimer's disease seemed more prevalent in areas that added aluminum sulfate(alum) to the drinking water to clarify it". Does aluminum+fluoride= Alzheimer's disease? More study will tell. David Heller cleanwater activist
Posted by: David Heller | April 22, 2006 03:23 AM
what about people that smoke out of alliminum.
Posted by: Tet | April 22, 2006 04:56 AM
...says Exley, who carried out the chemical analysis to spot the aluminium in the autopsy samples. "There are still 20,000 people thinking about whether they're susceptible to this chronic disease," he says. "We can't do anything to help them."
Nonsense, of course they can be helped. See "Detoxify or Die" at www.prestigepublishing.com
Posted by: Byron Como | April 23, 2006 08:38 PM
Alum (soluble aluminum potassium sulfate) is sometimes used in purifying water and is used in pickles. Will all those that eat pickles end up with Alzheimer's disease?
Posted by: Nabil Wakid | April 24, 2006 11:57 AM
There are some 504 published papers on the association between aluminum and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in the US National Library of Medicine database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed).
Several of these suggest an association but not a causal relationship between aluminum ingestion and AD. There is no established dose-response study linking aluminum exposure and AD at this time.
Posted by: Ijaz S. Jamall, Ph.D., DABT | April 24, 2006 05:12 PM
Regarding "Will all those that eat pickles end up with Alzheimer's disease?".... perhaps the answer is 'yes'-- if you eat enough of them, and if the effects of cumulative exposure from other sources is taken into consideration.
Posted by: Mary Lewis | April 24, 2006 05:32 PM
As Dr. Jamall suggests, I'd love to see a medical study focused on typical vectors of Aluminum exposure. I can't help but wonder about the alum-based deodorants we use everyday. . .
Posted by: J.Southwell | April 24, 2006 05:41 PM
Its an intersting finding. Soy protein is extracted using this very heavy metal which might explain some of the unpleasant side effects from eating unfermented soy
Posted by: Charles Cortes | April 24, 2006 06:58 PM
Great another thing to worry about. However being already an acomplished hyperchondriac I have already eliminated all sources of aluminium from my diet INCLUDING some forms of gaviscon that contain (or used to)aluminium hydroxide. Aluminium is generally insoluble in weak acids but dissolves readily in alkaline conditions. So alkaline foods (milk?) may pose more of a problem when using aluminium cookware...
Posted by: ASHLEY FIRTH | April 24, 2006 07:44 PM
The idea that aluminium might have something to do with Alzheimer's disease (AD) stems from a paper by Klatzo (J Neuropath Exp Neurol 1965) showing in the rabbit "neurofibrillar degeneration" (DNF) obtained by intracerebral implantation of aluminium oxyde. In the same issue, Terry dispelled the ambiguity, showing with electron microscopy that these "DNF" were not the paired helical filaments of AD, but an accumulation of normal neurofilaments.
Aluminium causation of AD has no a priori probability (FONCIN J.-F. : Alzheimer's disease and aluminium. Nature 1987 326 136). We also showed that aluminium implantation in the human brain causes a disease completely different from AD (FONCIN J.-F., GALLE P. : Encéphalopathie par implantation accidentelle d'aluminium métallique dans le cerveau humain. Etude combinée par microsonde et neuropathologie classique et ultrastructurale. Biology of the cell 1988 63 26a). Let the aluminium hypothesis for AD be put to rest !
Posted by: Jean-François Foncin | April 24, 2006 10:06 PM
what about common aluminium hydroxide which is prescribed for stomach pains?
The Al(oh)3 complexes react with gastric acids (HCL), leading to the formation of Aluminium chlorid
( which is fortunately not fully ionic , but can show some dissociation).
Must we consider that Aluminium sulphate is the only route for ingestion of toxic forms of aluminium?
Posted by: Olivier LOIDI | April 25, 2006 12:50 AM
In the NLM Database there are 28,616 published papers under the keyword Aluminum. Of those, there are 653 that form the subset under the keywords Aluminum and Alzheimer’s Disease, so the quoted 504 articles are at the most specific end of the search.
Imbalances in other metals have also been implicated in neural plaque and tangles; being iron, copper, and zinc. Including those in the search will further expand the reference set.
Within the aluminium search, there is ample evidence to suggest a causal relationship, and many well researched papers dating back 20 years. Since it is not currently possible to directly image aluminium in a living brain, and it would be unethical to intentionally poison a healthy one, the proof of a causal relationship beyond in vitro and indirect testing must wait for autopsies such as this one.
The WHO has also acknowledged the adverse neurological and systemic effects of aluminium overload, as evidenced in the document EHC-194.
It would be totally irresponsible to ignore the evidence accumulated to date because the cost in human lives destroyed will be very significant.
Posted by: peter stewart | April 25, 2006 07:40 AM
Below are two references to recent research on Aluminium which raise even more questions about Aluminium.
1. http://www.hdfoster.com/Foster_Alzheimers.pdf
2. "Aluminum in Antiperspirants : More Than Just Skin Deep"
Christopher Exley,PhD
December 15,2004
THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Volume 117
Posted by: Andrew | April 26, 2006 12:29 PM