# Aluminum cookware causes Alzheimers?



## live_to_cook (Aug 23, 2000)

Someone I know said they threw out all their aluminum pots and pans because aluminum cookware has been linked to Alzheimer's.

I said umm-hmmm I never heard of that.

How about all of you culinary professionals? Sounds far-fetched to me, but weirder things have proven true.

I'm not asking whether aluminum is good cookware (seems the All-Clad won that discussion), but rather whether you've heard of Alzheimers or other health risks associated with aluminum cookware.


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## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

If that were the case, wouldn't everyone have alzheimer's?


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## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

i do believe that there is some link to alzheimers and aluminium. There is also documented links to certain types of cancer.

Always use wooden spoons with aluminium pans.


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## m brown (May 29, 1999)

You can cook with it, 
DO NOT STORE FOOD IT ALUMINIUM POTS AND PANS!!!!!
It has been shown to cause alzhimers.


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Here are a few good articles and references on this subject:

Is aluminum cookware safe? http://www.parentsplace.com/health/s...,14795,00.html

Ask Dr. Weil http://www.drweil.com/archiveqa/0,2283,1454,00.html

http://www.housewarehouse.com/aluminumcookware.htm


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## katherine (Aug 12, 2000)

The major source of aluminum in this country's diet is Maalox. 

Just don't cook or store acidic foods like tomatoes or fruits in aluminum, and if you're all that concerned, use steel, iron, stainless, glass or nonstick pans.


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## live_to_cook (Aug 23, 2000)

I figured it was something like that. Thanks for all the feedback. Guess I won't be cooking up tomato sauce in my aluminum stock pot.


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## nutcakes (Sep 5, 2000)

It was all in the news for awhile. Aluminum in the brain is linked...the link to using pans is weak or nonexistent from my understanding...and they don't mean annodized aluminum, either.


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## live_to_cook (Aug 23, 2000)

I did more extensive research, and the consensus from responsible sources (including alternative medicine types) is that there's no evidence aluminum leads to Alzheimers. Aluminum concentrations have been found in the brains of Alzheimers victims, but it's considered more likely that the disease causes changes in the brain that cause it to retain more aluminum (which is the third most plentiful element on Earth).

If you use anodized aluminum (i.e. Calphalon) or refrain from cooking highly acidic foods (i.e. tomato sauce) in un-anodized aluminum, the aluminum transfer is zero anyway, the studies say.

So if you're worried, I'd say cook your tomato sauce and other acidic stuff in stainless or anodized aluminum, case closed.

[This message has been edited by Live_to_cook (edited 01-09-2001).]


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## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

in closing, the meal was good, the service was great but i cant remember the restaurant.


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## cookmeone (Jun 9, 2012)

www.whale.to/a/alz.html

This article demonstrates that when you cook with aluminum cookware and your water source is flouridized, the aluminum level in the food increases exponentially! I wonder if this is part of the Alzeimer's problem? Too much aluminum, whether the brain is retaining it or being more heavily exposed to it has to be a problem.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

If that be the case, I must have killed many people in the last 50 years.


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## colin (Sep 12, 2011)

Sorry, no.

I'm sure CookMeOne is linking to this in total sincerity and a desire to help folks out, but it's bunkum, and typical of the scare stories that get passed around the internet.

The source of the fluoride-aluminum allegation is this letter (i.e. not a peer-reviewed paper) in _Nature_ January 1987. (The "Science News" reference in the linked web page simply reports the existence of the letter in _Nature_.)

Aluminium leaching from cooking utensils

K. TENNAKONE & S. WICKRAMANAYAKE Institute of Fundamental Studies, Hantana, Kandy, Sri Lanka and Department of Physics, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka

Nature 325, 202 (15 January 1987); doi:10.1038/325202b0

It was swiftly refuted:

Is aluminium leaching enhanced by fluoride?

J. SAVORY , J. R. NICHOLSON & M. R. WILLS

University of Virginia Medical Center, Departments of Pathology, Biochemistry and Internal Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, USA

Nature 327, 107 - 108 (14 May 1987); doi:10.1038/327107b0

And then withdrawn by the original authors:

Aluminium and cooking

K. TENNAKONE & S. WICKRAMANAYAKA Institute of Fundamental Studies, Hantana, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Department of Physics, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka

Nature 329, 398 (01 October 1987); doi:10.1038/329398b0

"We have re-examined our experiments and discovered that our aluminum estimates were in error."

The linked piece, which of course does not mention these follow-ups, appears to quote

ISABEL JANSEN RN (Journal of the National Academy of Research Biochemists - Jan/Feb 90)

But the "National Academy of Research Biochemists" is not a credible organization (http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/Nonrecorg/narb.html) and its "Journal" appears to be nothi8ng more than a newsletter put out by a few alternative-health advocates.

One of the hallmarks of this kind of bunkum is the effort to dress up like real science. Always ask yourself if there is peer-reviewed material in reputable journals.


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## scubadoo97 (Nov 7, 2011)

Colin is on target. 

There is a lot of misplace fear of things that can cause a remote level of harm.  You walk outside your door and you are bombarded with doses of all kinds of deadly radiation.  Radon radiation in your home.   Driving is the most dangerous thing you do in your lifetime but no one things much of those risks.  But aluminum pans and non stick skillets, OH MY!  We place a lot of fear in the little things because we have more control over them.  No one is giving up driving but you risk death not Alzheimer every time you get behind the wheel.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Yes  and back  in the 90s Brocolli caused cancer.??


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

I doubt if aluminum is responsible for Alzheimer's, but I have very little of it in my kitchens, and purchased very little of it for previous kitchens and owners.

Basically aluminum has only two good points that apply to cookware: Good conducter of heat, and, Cheap

The bad points are:

-Sucker warps like cardboard in the rain, show me a commercial alum pot or pan and I'll show you a belly-bottomed rock-a-by-baby bowl with a handle, or worse yet, concave, with a big hump in the middle, impossible to saute anything in it.

-Sucker oxidizes.  A nice greasy thin black film of alum.oxide wherever the pot/pan touches--your clothing, your skin, countertops, table tops, hands, etc..  True there is anodized cookware, so the inside doesn't oxidize, but the outside still does--black hands and clothing again.

-Sucker reacts to acidic foods, especially if you use a metal implement to stir with--mind you the pot comes out sparking clean when it reacts, but still.......

-Suckler will stain a white soup or sauce grey if you use a metal implement to stir it with.  And there's a reason why there are no aluminum mixing bowls, only s/s, you guessed it!  Same reason.

-Suckers have the handles riveted on.  Most do, some don't, but the majority does, 'cause the mnfctrs just HATE to weld aluminum.  Problem is, they rivet with aluminum rivets, which are soft, and when you shake a pan, or jerk a pot full of water around, the rivets compress in their holes, stretch thier holes, and the thing ain't waterproof anymore.  Kinda annoying.....

So, as you can see, I hate the stuff, and avoid it whenever possible. 

There are exceptions, stockpots over 20 qts can get heavy if made with other materials, and since you don't saute or subject a stock pot to heavy flame, it is a "allowed".  Baking sheet pans are another one.  I still hate them, because every time I handle one, I get black hands. Steel sheet pans are rare, expensive, and heavy.  Mixing paddle and dough hook for the Hobart are cast aluminum, and will stain your hands and clothing, but if made with other metals would be too heavy.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Many of the points mentioned above are very true.. Everyone forgot the biggest no no . Do not wrap any food in Aluminum foil for the fridge or freezer. The industry has been pushing this on unsuspecting housewives for years yet full knowing IT"S NO GOOD>  It formas a powdery element on the food called Aluminum Oxide.it imparts a taste to the food as well as color.. It is wonderful for the treatment of Ulcers but thats done in a Lab.  Stay away from it. also if left in freezer to long it gets brittle and deteriorates.


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## cookmeone (Jun 9, 2012)

Thanks for that update.  I knew the article was pretty old, but didn't know how to verify credibility. So, now I guess it's ok to cook in aluminum pans even if your water contains flouride?  I know there are other things we do on a regular basis that are way more dangerous.  I just want to do what I can to discourage Alzeimer's in my friends and family I cook for. I really appreciate actual responses on this type of forum! Keep up the good work!


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## madchef2013 (Apr 22, 2013)

Live_to_cook said:


> Someone I know said they threw out all their aluminum pots and pans because aluminum cookware has been linked to Alzheimer's.
> 
> I said umm-hmmm I never heard of that.
> 
> ...


I have heard the same myth many times over. It is in fact a myth. You can check it out here: http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_myths_about_alzheimers.asp


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