Link between aluminum and ALS?

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A housemate of mine claims that aluminum can cause ALS (a.k.a. Motor-Neuro Disorder or Lou Gehrig's Disease -- the disease that Stephen Hawking has).

Now, I remember hearing years back about an alleged connection between aluminum and Alzheimer's Disease -- a connection which has since been refuted -- but this is the first I'd heard about a connection between aluminum and ALS. So, I checked in the usual places -- Wikipedia article on ALS and Quackwatch -- and found nary a peep about aluminum one-way-or-the-other.

Where could my housemate have been getting this story from?

[fuelair]

One possibility:

http://www.advancedfamilyhealth.com/landing_eric.htm?gclid=CLfrhJnTio8CFQpBgQodgExiuA

[cheddar]

One of my friends has been going on and on about the same thing. I think that he got it from one of the guests on Coast to Coast AM, although I can't cite anything more specific than that, since I didn't hear the show myself.

[fuelair]

Also :http://www.mercola.com/2006/apr/11/there_are_more_toxins_in_vaccines_than_mercury.htm where they attribute the aluminum in vaccines (no joke!!!) to causing ALS - but to read the article, you have to give them your e-mail address (though no charge) but they promise not to spam you!!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::eek:

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Mercola.com looks like it has a lot of anti-vaccination articles on it.


It'd make it easier for me to say "no, there's no well-established link between aluminum and ALS" if there was, say, a QuackWatch article on the subject.

[The Man]

Back in the late 80’s, I was working with aluminum conductors, alloys and 99.7% pure aluminum, in an engineering laboratory. I was surprised to suddenly find, one day, warring labels on the incoming aluminum shipments. These labels expressed that exposure to the aluminum or aluminum oxides is hazardous. Needless to say I begin wearing gloves whenever handling aluminum. Fortunately, I am no longer exposed to aluminum as I was before and I do not suffer for that affliction. Unfortunately, I have never heard or read anything relating aluminum exposures to ALS

[Gord_in_Toronto]

One possibility:

http://www.advancedfamilyhealth.com/landing_eric.htm?gclid=CLfrhJnTio8CFQpBgQodgExiuA

I presume you are not being serious?

Quote from the site

Getting a hair analysis now to determine your specific nutritional and detoxification


No, it won't. :mad:

[Jeff Corey]

Isn't it aluminium? Especially for those in the Great White North, eh?

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

No, we spell it the correct American way.

[Gurdur]

As far as I know:
initial studies seemed to show aluminium deposits within plaques in the brain. Therefore the initial scare.

Later, it was found that the findings were the results of using aluminium dissection and holding instruments, and consequent contamination. No evidence for aluminium build-up in plaques was found later in more rigorous studies. End of scare.

I'm doing all that from memory, so do look it up somewhere good, MEDLINE or so.

[casebro]

Confusion, perhaps? AL-uminum, AL-zheimers, AL-sclerosis?

Aluminum cookware would have killed us all off 100 years ago.

Aluminum is a ubiquitous metal. The most common in the earth's crust. I suppose that ALL the genetic lines that were sensitive to it have died out. Probably back in the amoeba stage of evolution.

Aluminum has been studied. I don't think any study has ever shown any health problem related to aluminum exposure. I know lots of weldors who are drooling idiots, but I think cause/effect may be reversed. The studies regarding under-arm deodorants vs breast cancer showed no link. Nor did AL vs parkinsons.

[Alareth]

I remember a salesman trying to pull the aluminum/Alzheimer's scare tactic on me once to try and get me to give up my beloved Calphalon cookware in favor of his stainless steel crapware.

Of all the things I lost in the divorce it the Calphalon the cuts deepest...

[krazyKemist]

A housemate of mine claims that aluminum can cause ALS (a.k.a. Motor-Neuro Disorder or Lou Gehrig's Disease -- the disease that Stephen Hawking has).

Now, I remember hearing years back about an alleged connection between aluminum and Alzheimer's Disease -- a connection which has since been refuted -- but this is the first I'd heard about a connection between aluminum and ALS. So, I checked in the usual places -- Wikipedia article on ALS and Quackwatch -- and found nary a peep about aluminum one-way-or-the-other.

Where could my housemate have been getting this story from?

The link between aluminum and nervous system diseases would come from two things. One was a nasty medical problem encountered for the first patients undergoing renal dialysis in certain area. Those patients developped a disease which was called dialysis demencia (http://http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1689721) and upon analysis of their brain tissue, aluminum-containing plaque could be found, which were later linked to dialysis being perfomed with tap water (which may contain low to moderate amounts of dissolved aluminum). Since Alzeimer's (AD) patient's brains also contained some plaque, the two were immediately linked. Upon more detailed analysis of AD plaque, it was found that it contained no aluminum, but an anomalous, truncated and insoluble protein called amyloid.

The other fact comes from studies made on the brains of people having trisomy 21 which seem to contain more aluminum than normal (when compared with a similar age-group). The hypothesis is that their metabolism is especially sensitive to aluminum and it accumulates faster in their brains.

One thing to think about however is the solubility curve of aluminum. Aluminum is highly soluble only in either extemely acidic or extremely basic media. So, in everyday physiological condition (around pH 7) inorganic aluminum poses very very little threat, since it is insoluble, and will not be absorbed. The situation may be different for organic/complexed aluminum which in terms of water safety is separated into two groups : labile and non-labile.

Non-labile organic is soluble, thus able to be absorbed in the body. However it is stable, so not liable to bind to things like DNA or protein or to become insoluble and form deposits. So it's basically safe. The one you have to watch out for is organic labile. That one is the one that gets accumulated in the body and can cause harm.

the Kemist

[casebro]

... The one you have to watch out for is organic labile. That one is the one that gets accumulated in the body and can cause harm.

the Kemist

What harm? Where does one find "organic labile" aluminum?

[krazyKemist]

What harm? Where does one find "organic labile" aluminum?

Those (inorganic, organic labile/non-labile) are water-treatment plant terms. Tap water is submitted to many treatments, one of which aims to precipitate, by adding a chemical, aluminum (which is present naturally in water, as it is an ubiquitous chemical). Then it can be filtered out. This works very well to reduce the concentration of inorganic aluminum, but not so well to reduce organic aluminum levels.

Do not confuse 'organic' with 'coming from natural sources' as in 'organic foods' here. By 'organic' metal, a chemist means an organometallic species, ie that the metal is bound to an organic chemical (ex.: sugars, amino acids, EDTA, ect.) as opposed to an inorganic one, as a chloride ion. This has the net result of making it more soluble and facilitate its entry into cells.

Organic labile aluminum has a known environmental toxicity, on plants and fish. However, I could find no studies specific on humans, which is strange because I know efforts are undertaken specifically to detect it and take it out of driking water. This is a study on environmental labile Al on trout:

http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=12812737&ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

If I find anything cool on humans I will post it.

the Kemist

[fuelair]

I presume you are not being serious?

Quote from the site


No, it won't. :mad:Put on your thinking cap - I sent him there because it is obvious lunacy. I doubt seriously that any medical site that is real will have it. AND he said he was trying to determine where his friend might have gotten the idea.:D

[krazyKemist]

I found a cool paper ! Beer protects against aluminum absorption. (http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17612380&ordinalpos=13&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum)

the Kemist

[krazyKemist]

Also, seems the link between AD and aluminum is on the stage once more in recent litterature :

http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17522444&ordinalpos=17&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

With a take on iron homeostasis:

http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17376497&ordinalpos=27&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

For acute toxicity, this is a report on the histological findings of people poisonned with aluminum phosphide in India:

http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17520959&ordinalpos=18&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

the Kemist

[casebro]

Also, seems the link between AD and aluminum is on the stage once more in recent litterature :

http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17522444&ordinalpos=17&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

With a take on iron homeostasis:

http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17376497&ordinalpos=27&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

For acute toxicity, this is a report on the histological findings of people poisonned with aluminum phosphide in India:

http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17520959&ordinalpos=18&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

the Kemist

Lessee, there is no strong link noted in the one study, which was a rehash of previous cases.

No mention of the AL poisoning the fish, merely the mention of changing levels in the streams.

And the India case involved an aluminum based rat poison. Duh. Don't eat rat poison.

And, re: beer, even 200 years ago , Ben franklin knew beer was good for us. He said:

" Beer is proof the God loves us, and wants us to be happy."

So now science has new proof?

[krazyKemist]

Lessee, there is no strong link noted in the one study, which was a rehash of previous cases.

No mention of the AL poisoning the fish, merely the mention of changing levels in the streams.

And the India case involved an aluminum based rat poison. Duh. Don't eat rat poison.



That study seems to be a mild one, actually. Recent litterature seems to look at the involvement of metals (iron and Al) in the development of AD at least as a cofactor, because they seem to induce oxidative stress, and more plaque (which is ubiquitous in the body in AD, actually). It's not quite clear whether changes in metal concentrations are a consequence or a factor in neurodegenerescence yet.

The India case is interesting in the way the brain gets damaged by this particular rat poison made out of a labile toxic form of aluminum. It may be indicative as to what a chronic exposure to aluminum in these forms (organic labile) may do to somebody.

As these forms can be found in drinking water (mostly those which have been in contact with both aluminum leachates and organic topsoil), I think it's highly relevant to check this out, with a good epidemiologic study. I guess this is being done right now.

And, re: beer, even 200 years ago , Ben franklin knew beer was good for us. He said:

" Beer is proof the God loves us, and wants us to be happy."

So now science has new proof?

Yep. Now when somebody is fussing over you having too much beer, you can say: 'Gerroff me, m'aving my AD medecine, you stupid !' :D

the Kemist

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I found a cool paper ! Beer protects against aluminum absorption. (http://http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17612380&ordinalpos=13&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum)

the Kemist


Your link starts with a double http:// .


EDIT: In fact, all the links in your following post do, too.