Aluminium and Health

7 percent of the earth’s crust is made up of aluminium. Although aluminium in its raw form is not readily available because of its capability to react instantly, it has been present in the ore form as bauxite since the earth's crust formed. We have been exposed to aluminium for about over 150 years now. We all consume small amounts of aluminium in our daily lives – in the food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink. Some say it has adverse effects on your health. But it has been the continuous effort of the scientific community to explore the impact of aluminium on our health.

Aluminium is used ion food packaging, beverage cans, utensils, in our homes, drinking water, medicines, cosmetics etc. We have been using this since long as consumables and as an indispensable part of our lives. Till now, the mainstream scientific community has had a definite stand in forming a consensus – normal day-to-day usage of aluminium does not have any adverse effects on a person’s health.

Plants, their fruits and most vegetables contain aluminium because they absorb it from the soil. Salts have traces of aluminium, storage of soft drinks and other beverages are done in aluminium cans, food is brought in aluminium trays, medicines are stored in aluminium capsules – this list goes on and on. The amount of aluminium we get in our bodies is very small, somewhat to the tune of about 0.1 mg/day is almost all cases. It is even a common component in surface water. Aluminium Sulphate (alum) is also used for purifying water supplies. However, we ingest less than 1% of our daily aluminium intake only. It is noteworthy that aluminium exposure through air amounts to only 0.04 mg/day, way lesser than the percent of the contribution we get through food.

However, the uses of the ‘green metal’ had already found a way into medicine during the ancient Rome and Greece period. Compounds of aluminium were especially used to stop bleeding of wounds. Aluminium Hydroxide is present in the modern day vaccines to treat stomach ulcers and kidney failures. If we come to more applications of it in consumer products, antiperspirants and cosmetics have also employed aluminium in such forms which help in blocking perspiration from the body.

However, too much of anything is bad and aluminium is no exception. An overdose can cause neurotoxic effects. Aluminium is poorly absorbed by the human body. Hence almost 99% of it excreted as it is from. But an overexposure means taking in more of the substance than the body can eliminate and thus causes harm. But the normal intake of aluminium has potentially no harm for a human being. Some facts have been asserted to be true by various health organisations and medical communities from around the world as mentioned below:

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