Nailed – Aluminum Does Cause Alzheimer’s….

Today's Post:  Thursday, 5-15-2014

To be sure this research shows a LOT of Aluminum does so.  But since a lot does, avoiding unneeded exposure to it is very likely a good idea.

That’s because Aluminum is very likely to be like hydrogenated oils and a small but regular intake 7 days a week for decades at a time of Aluminum is likely to build up to a dangerous and Alzheimer’s causing level.

1.  We list the news that found a heavy exposure to Aluminum DID cause Alzheimer’s disease.

2.  Then we list the more common ways you might be exposed to Aluminum and tips to avoid it.  It just became easier than it once was which helps.

1.  I don’t agree with everything Jenny Thompson of HSI says.  But her research is often so good I do agree.

A month ago I got this in an HSI email:  (The bolding in the article is mine.)

“Dear Reader,

Is there a bottle of Alzheimer's disease sitting in your medicine cabinet?

If you're chugging down antacids, you need to check the package right away.

Because a new study out of Britain has shown an undeniable link between a common ingredient in some antacids and Alzheimer's disease.

So before you take another dose, make sure your antacid isn't giving you a lot more than you -- and your brain -- bargained for.

They look innocent enough. People take them every day. You don't need an Rx or your doctor's permission.

But if you're taking some common brands of antacids, you're also taking in a known brain-damaging substance -- aluminum.

This isn't the first time that aluminum has been mentioned as a possible link to Alzheimer's. But you know how experts always say that "more research is needed"?

Well, the more research they're always talking about is here.

Scientists at England's Keele University have called this finding the first "direct link" with high levels of brain aluminum and Alzheimer's disease.

Their study involves a man in the U.K. who died at the age of 66 with advanced-stage Alzheimer's. He had been exposed for 8 years to aluminum dust in his job.

Researchers conducted "the most comprehensive investigation ever" of the man's brain, measuring 49 different tissue samples for aluminum. And they found A LOT of it.

They said that the results show that his job-related aluminum exposure contributed "significantly" to his death from Alzheimer's.

But it doesn't seem to matter if your job is making doughnuts or working in a factory breathing in aluminum dust. You're still at high risk if you're a big antacid user.

Another study on aluminum and Alzheimer's, this one out of Norway, calls "regular consumers of antacids" part of a "special group" that have heavy aluminum exposure. And a look at some popular brands of antacids shows why.

"           Gelusil tablets contain 200 mg of aluminum hydroxide in each tablet. The directions say you can take up to 12 a day.

"           Gaviscon Extra Strength contains 254 mg of aluminum hydroxide in each teaspoon. And the bottle says it's okay to take up to 4 teaspoons, 4 times a day.

"           Even Pepto-Bismol contains "aluminum silicate (listed as an "inactive" ingredient). But for the 'Big Kahuna' of added aluminum, you might try some...

"           Cherry-flavored Di-gel Maximum strength antacid. It's got a whopping 400 mg of aluminum hydroxide in each teaspoon. And the dosage can be up to 8 teaspoons a day!

But don't bother to look for any warning on these drugs about chugging down all that aluminum. For that, you need to buy your antacids across the pond.

A popular British brand called Talcid is made with hydrotalcite, a mineral that contains aluminum. Its package insert notes that: "Long-term use of Talcid necessitates regular check of patient's aluminum level."

It also warns that anyone with kidney disease is at a greater risk of high blood aluminum. That's because if you're kidneys don't work well, any aluminum that gets into your blood won't be removed.

Of course, the makers of all those popular American brands of antacids would probably tell you no connection has been proven yet.

But I've seen all the proof I need. And there's certainly no reason to risk it.

So if you take antacids regularly, it's time to ditch the Di-gel and check the labels (including the "inactive" ingredients) to make sure the one you pick is aluminum-free.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson”

Later in the email she also quotes a study that tested a potential remedy for Alzheimer’s by first giving the rats Alzheimer’s disease on purpose by heavily overdosing them on Aluminum salts.

2.  Here are the more common ways you might be exposed to Aluminum and tips to avoid it.  It just became easier than it once was which helps.

a)  Don’t take antacids that contain Aluminum.  Jenny Thompson just listed many common ones that do contain Aluminum to NOT take.

Calcium Carbonate can work as an occasional and temporary antacid.  Just be sure the brand you use has no Aluminum too.

If you get bad heartburn regularly, you likely have acid reflux.

Eating a LOT more vegetables at every meal and drinking tea instead of coffee or instead of more than the first cup or two of coffee can help turn off this condition or turn it down.

But if you need something to sleep at night most nights, you may need more than that.  The proton pump inhibitor drugs are between 75% and 100% effective depending on several factors.

(Since I have this condition myself, when I find a better solution than the proton pump inhibitors, I’ll post it often!  Meanwhile these drugs do allow you to sleep reasonably well and not be distracted by heartburn at work.)

They do deplete vitamin B12 and magnesium.  And B12 deficiency can cause other kinds of mental decline while magnesium deficiency from these drugs has been shown to cause bone fractures.   But if you know that and what to do for it, it’s actually OK.

You can get your B12 anyway even enough to have more than average by taking one or two 1,000 mcg methlB12 chewable lozenges each day.  The B12 goes into your blood directly from getting into your blood from your mouth.  So not absorbing it from your stomach is OK.  (I take Methyl B-12 1000 mcg - 100 Lozenges from NOW supplements.  I chew up one every morning and one each evening.)

Similarly I take four servings of magnesium supplements each day and eat nuts most days a week and am beginning to add more dark leafy greens.  I already tested at 75 percentile for magnesium, so I’m not deficient.  (Both nuts and dark leafy greens are high in magnesium; and even with the drugs you do digest some.  In my case where the drug doesn’t lower my acid level as much, that may also help.)

b)  The next category of products that many people use that now contain aluminum are antiperspirants and underarm deodorants.

Tom’s of Maine sells its original formula underarm deodorant that is unscented and still has ZERO aluminum.  For some reason their marketing people think only women use it – so it says for women on the container.  But it works for me just fine just the same.  It also doesn’t give me the rash the harsher deodorants that have aluminum used to give me either!

Whole Foods sells it.

c)  The next category of things that people use that contain aluminum are the baking powders that contain aluminum and the foods they are used in.

That once concerned me but at that time, I found that Rumsford makes a double acting baking powder that has ZERO aluminum.  (Whole Foods sells that too.)

I already knew that commercial baked goods all too often used hydrogenated oils. 

So instead of eating those heart attack starter foods every day, a solution was to make these things at home just a few times a month.  And that way by also using the Rumsford double acting baking powder that has ZERO aluminum, I’d still have some baked treats but no daily Aluminum intake.

Since then, I’ve found that all refined grain flours and wheat flour in particular and the sugars in such foods cause you to get fat and have too high blood sugar and help cause heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease too.

So since I eat such foods something like twice a year or less now my intake of Aluminum from baked goods and such baking powders approaches zero.

Even better, there are now a very large number of very similar and tasty treats made without gluten which allows you or the maker to not need baking powder at all!

They use things like almond flour and coconut flour and bean paste instead of grains and many of them use eggs as a binder to replace the gluten.

So you can avoid ALL the bad ingredients now in old fashioned commercial baked goods with NO baking powder needed at all.

So things have actually improved quite bit since I posted on this first.