aluminum and Alzheimers?

I have a theory on this...which is substantiated by some medical research...but I have been thinking about my own family and want to share this.
In 1955, a travelling salesman came to our door in the country selling Aristrocrat stainless steel cookware..pots and pans. Even though we could not afford them, my mother bought the whole set, as she was always an excellent cook and appreciated good quality items. So we never used aluminum pots.

Secondly, when the whole world was eating TV dinners in aluminum foil, we didn't buy those. Store-bought pies were sold in aluminum foil pans; pop and beer started to be sold in aluminum cans. People used rolls of aluminum foil to wrap everything! (My mother used waxed paper.)

Canned food products came in aluminum cans....even those products like tomatoes that could leach out the aluminum. Not only that but coffee percolators were made out of aluminum; and in the 50's there were even drinking glasses in bright colours (which I admired but we never had!) We just had glasses made out of glass.

Daily deodorants have aluminum content. (My mother used lavender powder and cologne and my dad used Mennen Skin Bracer!)

So over 50 years, my parents accumulated NO ALUMINUM in their bodies. Of all of the above, we almost never bought pop unless it was in bottles. Same with beer. We did not barbecue so used no foil there either! We had an enameled coffee percolator all those years. The rest was stainless steel or glass. My mother made her own pies. And TV dinners were never purchased.

If you look at other situations, I am sure that many people used aluminum pots daily, aluminum percolators, aluminum foil, pop and beer in aluminum as well as daily deodorant. And all on a continuing basis. Even products like Gaviscon for heartburn contain aluminum!

These are just observations. But my father died at 90, completely clear-headed. My mother is 96 and still reads newspapers and magazines and can carry on a conversation about politics or religion or agriculture. Lives in her own home with assistance. There are no signs of dementia.

There may be an element of genetics in the above, but one can't help but think that the accumulation of aluminum after daily and ongoing use cannot be ignored.

I have read that aluminum is not easily detoxed from the body. As a result, this collects in the brain. Some people, as well, may be more sensitive to this accumulation.

This may appear too simplistic and many people are thumbing their noses at this research. However, there seems to be more dementia now than ever before. And these seniors are the ones who lived through the 50's when aluminum was the miracle product! Light, thin, strong, conducting heat easily and cheap. But I, for one, am limiting the aluminum that I allow to enter my body. Better safe than sorry.

From the Alzheimer's Society

Aluminum
Introduction
Risk factors are characteristics of people, their lifestyle and environment that contribute to the likelihood of getting a disease. They can include family background, work history or exposure to a substance or product. Some risk factors can be modified (for example, lowering one's blood pressure); other risk factors can not be modified (for example, one's age or family history).

Most researchers no longer regard aluminum as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. However, some researchers are still examining whether some people are at risk because their bodies have difficulties in handling foods containing the metals copper, iron, and aluminum.
What about the pots and pans?
It would be difficult to significantly reduce exposure to aluminum simply by avoiding the use of aluminum cookware, foil, beverage cans and other products. Even if aluminum were clearly implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease, these means of exposure contributes only a very small percentage of the average person's intake of aluminum.
In summary
At this point, there is no evidence that aluminum increases a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

http://www.alzheimer.ca/english/disease/causes-alumi.htm

Just as in any ailment, Jonas, you can find research to support completely opposing sides of an issue. I realize that, but prefer to support this side of the argument. Because it makes sense to me.

As well, I am sure that the producers of aluminum, deodorant and pop and beer cans will also have pressure to bear on this issue. I prefer to be safe than sorry.

And yes, as one gets older, systems slow down and become less efficient and some people have difficulty ridding their bodies of fat, fluid, bad cholestrol, aluminum, copper, iron, this and that. Look what an excess of iron will do to you! It's lethal and the only response is to do a "bleeding"...remove the iron-rich blood from the body! Like in pioneer days!

Livers and kidneys are not working as well, especially if bombarded by a whole regimen of drugs for various other ailments. Ankles swell, pressure goes up, the whole water system loses its former efficienct flow to detox the body. And "bad stuff" starts to stick here and there. So, no, it's not just the aluminum. It's a weakening body trying to deal with the build up of toxins etc., one of which MIGHT be aluminum.

Naturopaths, as opposed to doctors, will see this issue differently as well.
They are very big on toxic concentrations and the effects thereof.

I don't want to overdo this but....lots of research out there which suggests a "link" but not a guarantee between aluminum and Alzheimers. Of the first 5 articles that came up, 3 of the 5 said "Yes, there is a link noted in the research....but also exceptions noted."

However, two interesting comments here written by doctors....

“Although the aluminum/Alzheimer's link remains unproven, I believe that waiting for definitive proof before taking a few easy and protective measures is foolhardy--and more scientists are starting to agree.

Perhaps one person in 10 age 65 or older suffers from dementia; by age 80 that figure rises to one in five. This is too common an illness to ignore preventive measures until we can know for certain why it develops.”

“It's obvious aluminum isn't the sole cause of Alzheimer's disease, since many people don't contract it, even in environments where they're exposed to high amounts of aluminum. In fact, there's some indication that a predisposition to the disease may be hereditary”


And from another source:
“In any case, aluminum isn't easy to avoid. You can probably dump your aluminum cookware without too much trouble, but you'll find aluminum is also contained in many common antacids and antiperspirants.

Even more insidious, aluminum is added to many municipal water supplies to help remove floating debris.

Aluminum is also found in household baking powder, self-rising flour, cake mix, pancake batter, and frozen dough (as sodium aluminum phosphate, a leavening agent);

In nondairy creamers, table salt, and other powdered foods (as an anticaking ingredient); in processed cheese (as an emulsifier); and in hemorrhoid preparations (up to 50 percent aluminum hydroxide).

The known human requirement for aluminum, you may be interested to know, is absolutely zero.”

"Perhaps one person in 10 age 65 or older suffers from dementia; by age 80 that figure rises to one in five."

So what is happening in those 15 years that causes that big of a rise in sufferers?
An increase in the amount of drugs taken for illnesses? Perhaps everything we do to prolong our lives is backfiring in other ways. Or a life spent around stuff that is bad for us finally starts to take its toll?

I just think a system slows down...and accumulates stuff and can no longer circulate efficiently and do its jobs.

I see it in my mother. She is a tiny thing, yet her ankles, for example, swell up. And she has to wear the socks and put her feet up higher than her heart. And then the puffiness goes down. So if the same kind of lack of circulation takes place in a brain...well, then..you have problems.

While recuperating from an ankle injury and even now when it swells, I lie down on my bed, on my stomach and raise the injured ankle into the air and "shake" it for a few minutes. This seems to reduce the inflammation faster, at least for me.

You presented one side of the "argument" with personal anecdotal evidence. My post was to use a reliable source (ie The Alzheimers Society of Canada) to state that there were indeed significant authorative sources that see the issue in a different light.

cking wrote:

Just as in any ailment, Jonas, you can find research to support completely opposing sides of an issue. I realize that, but prefer to support this side of the argument. Because it makes sense to me.

As well, I am sure that the producers of aluminum, deodorant and pop and beer cans will also have pressure to bear on this issue. I prefer to be safe than sorry.

And yes, as one gets older, systems slow down and become less efficient and some people have difficulty ridding their bodies of fat, fluid, bad cholestrol, aluminum, copper, iron, this and that. Look what an excess of iron will do to you! It's lethal and the only response is to do a "bleeding"...remove the iron-rich blood from the body! Like in pioneer days!

Livers and kidneys are not working as well, especially if bombarded by a whole regimen of drugs for various other ailments. Ankles swell, pressure goes up, the whole water system loses its former efficienct flow to detox the body. And "bad stuff" starts to stick here and there. So, no, it's not just the aluminum. It's a weakening body trying to deal with the build up of toxins etc., one of which MIGHT be aluminum.

Naturopaths, as opposed to doctors, will see this issue differently as well.
They are very big on toxic concentrations and the effects thereof.

Yeah, I know...lots of different lights shining on the same subject. And who really knows for sure?

I don't think anyone really knows the reason that Alzheimers will effect some and not others. It could be diet or it may end up being something as simple as what we cook our food in, could end up being the paint on the walls in your house or the type of fuel you heated with. It seems the only thing we can do is be careful of what we put in our bodies. Just this morning on the radio they said that drinking lots of coffee was good for the liver as it helps in stopping cancer from developing. Same as butter vs. margarine. Margarine lower in fats etc, but now they are saying butter is better as your body know how to digest it. So what do you do? Just keep on keeping on, I guess.