Aluminum in Drinking Water Tied to Alzheimer's

Yahoo News ^ | 4/14/03 | Jacqueline Stenson

[Libloather]

Aluminum in Drinking Water Tied to Alzheimer's
Mon Apr 14, 5:54 PM ET
By Jacqueline Stenson

SAN DIEGO (Reuters Health) - Adding support to a controversial theory linking aluminum with Alzheimer's disease, new research indicates the disease is more common in regions of northwest Italy where levels of aluminum in drinking water are highest.

And when the investigators studied the effects of one form of the metal on two types of human cells in the lab, they found it hastened cell death.

"We were absolutely surprised by these results," said study author Dr. Paolo Prolo, a researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles. "I did not expect any effect from aluminum."

In findings released here Monday at the annual Experimental Biology meeting, Prolo and colleagues focused on monomeric -- single molecule -- aluminum. This is the type that can be most easily absorbed by human cells, he said.

While there have been suggestions that aluminum cookware might pose a risk for Alzheimer's, the type of aluminum used in pots and pans consists of multiple molecules and does not appear to affect human cells, according to Prolo. "There is almost no evidence that the cookware is dangerous," he said.

When the researchers tested water in regions of northwest Italy in 1998, they found that total aluminum levels -- including monomeric and other types of aluminum -- ranged from 5 to 1,220 micrograms per liter, while monomeric aluminum levels alone ranged from 5 to 300 micrograms per liter.

Environmental officials generally recommended that total aluminum levels be below 200 micrograms per liter, Prolo noted.

After comparing this data to death rates from Alzheimer's in those regions, the researchers found that the disease was more common in areas with the highest levels of monomeric aluminum.

Back in the lab, Prolo and colleagues then tested the effects of monomeric aluminum on human immune-system cells and bone cancer cells. Ideally, human brain cells would be tested but these are not readily available because a biopsy of a patient's brain is necessary to acquire them, he said.

"We found that a very low quantity of aluminum added to our cell cultures was modifying cellular processes" like normal cell death, Prolo told Reuters Health.

When the aluminum was paired with beta-amyloid, a protein found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, the combination killed off even more cells.

Because aluminum could kill both types of human cells, these findings raise the question of whether aluminum is potentially involved in other diseases, Prolo said.

But much more research is needed to understand how the metal does or does not affect people, he added.

[tubebender]

Back in the late 40s my mother started to read Rodales Prevention Magazine and promptly threw out her old Aluminum cook ware and replaced it with stainless steel. I still drink soda out of Al cans but only a couple a day. I beleive Al is a factor but in combination with unknown other things.

[this_ol_patriot]

Mine doesn't stick on the magnet side, if I use the printed side it sticks. Does this mean I should live north or south of the equator?

[stainlessbanner]

I would not deny alum. contributes to the disease, however I think it is hereditary as well. Anyone have some helpful Alzheimer's links?

[browardchad]

unless it's next because the agenda is that we eat only RAW foods???

Skewering food on a tree branch and cooking it over an open fire fed by dried acacia leaves from 300-year-old trees grown in equatorial Africa is the only way to safeguard one's immortality -- unless you smoke, then it's OK to eat out of aluminum pots, or even aluminum garbage cans.

[strela]

How does one handle a 'delighted spy'???

With Wonder Bread of course. It builds strong bodies 007 ways!

[Diddley]

LOL

[Diddley]

The magnet test always works.

[Diddley]

The company went into major damage control mode when a similar story was released then.

Interesting. What was the essence of their damage control?

[Diddley]

EAST

[John Valentine]

I am quite certain that aluminum cans used to contain beverages are LINED with a plastic coating.

[John Valentine]

Smoke from dried acacia leaves, especially those taken from trees in equitorial Africa, is known to contain alumina ash, which could be absorbed by the food cooked over it.

We live in a chemical soup. It is natural and ubiquitous. Basically, were screwed. We're all going to die, some more miserably than others. Get used to the idea.

[Elsie]

We're all going to die, some more miserably than others.

And, after that, the Judgement.

[aruanan]

Well, it's known that plaques in the brains of Alzheimers victims have higher than expected levels of aluminum. That is beyond dispute. The question is how the aluminum got there and whether it was a cause of or a consequence of the disease. It was this presence of aluminum in brain plaque that set off the frenzy of avoidance of aluminum cookware and of using deodorant with aluminum chlorhydrate. There's no correlation between the use of aluminum cookware or aluminum chlorhydrate in deodorant and the development of Alzheimers disease. The open question was still where the aluminum was coming from if not from these sources and whether it was the cause or an effect of the disease. It's known that aluminum inhibits the action of the serine protease plasmin. This protease promotes the alpha-cleavage of an amyloid beta precursor. The idea is that failure to cleave the precursor leads to a buildup of amyloid beta and the formation of plaque. This study seems to support the idea that a particular form of aluminum is responsible for the presence of the aluminum in the brain plaques and that it is cytotoxic. That a geographic region has both increased levels of monomeric aluminum as well as elevated incidence of Alzheimers disease would suggest a causal or contributary role for monomeric aluminum rather than one of attendant circumstance.

Of course, if people living in that area for some reason are more prone to decreased renal function with age, then they could show increased levels of aluminum-induced accumulation and toxicity. It's believed that entry of aluminum to the brain from blood "may involve transferrin-receptor mediated endocytosis and a more rapid process transporting small molecular weight Al species."* It's known that aluminum increases iron-induced oxidative damage. This damage could mediate the aluminum's neurotoxicity. Since it's not known exactly what's going on but that aluminum is neurotoxic, it's prudent to avoid a high intake of aluminum. On the other hand, compared with the ambiguity of studies relating the presence of dietary aluminum and the onset of Alzheimers, the protective effect of aspirin and alcohol against Alzheimers is huge. In other words, taking or not taking a daily aspirin or a regular dosage of ethanol will have a much greater effect on someone developing Alzheimers than whether or not he eats bacon fried in an aluminum pan or drinks Coke from an aluminum can.

As far as wacko comments about fluoride, it's funny that folks who won't believe studies that don't support the conclusion they want will use other studies to support a conclusion arrived at by a rejection of the scientific method. They're cherry pickers. It's impossible to carry on rational discourse with them because they've rejected the basis for it: entertaining the possibility that they could be wrong and subjecting themselves to a means that lies outside wishful thinking that could correct mistaken ideas.


*The toxicology of aluminum in the brain: a review. Yokel RA.Neurotoxicology 2000 Oct;21(5):813-28.

[fso301]

I read somewhere that Alzeihmers was not common until the 1840s, when aluminum came into general use

May be purely coincidental as better medical record technology began documenting what was probably a more or less rare condition as onset doesn't occur until the 70's and people didn't live so long back then.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Good point.

[Buck W.]

"Interesting. What was the essence of their damage control?"


Primarily PR: First, they ran articles and counter-studies in the employee newsletters. Then, they had experts interviewed for the press who had a company-friendly point of view. I believe that they even did some congressional lobbying.

Having said all that, I have no idea whether the connection is real or not. RMC could have been perfectly justified in its actions.

Another such story: During the Falklands war, Argentina hit the British ship Sheffield with an Exocet missile. The Sheffield superstructure burned quickly, and word spread that the fire was due the the high aluminum content of the construction. RMC covered that one, too.

[TomB]

Hi Spyder.

The only thing I have to add, as I do in EVERY thread that mentions fluoride, is that in many areas of the country Fluoride is NATURALLY OCCURRING in concentrations many times what is put into municipal water supplies.

These areas have had high fluoride levels FOREVER, so if there were a relationship between fluoride and alzheimer's, those communities would show a marked increase in cases. And of course, we don't see that (or any other malady, for that matter).

Not being able to prove a negative, that is about as conclusive as proof can get.

[browardchad]

Did you actually think I was serious?

Oh, well -- thanks for the tip on acacia leaves -- I guess.

[nmh]

Flouride in water also contributes to Altzheimers.

[nanny]

Hey! The Aluminum foil (tin foil) is supposed to go on the OUTSIDE of your head!

And turn the shiny side out - you should be OK.

Seriously though, aluminum used to be in deodorants and also antacids.