Aluminum Buildup in the Brain May Cause Alzheimer’s

the Psychiatry Advisor take:

A British researcher says that humans’ exposure to aluminum, which is found in processed foods, cosmetics, and even some medicines (such as aspirin and antacids), may contribute to a higher incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.

Christopher Exley, PhD, of Keele University, Staffordshire, United Kingdom, writes that based on existing studies, the metal slowly builds up in the brain, where it can eventually cause early onset of Alzheimer’s.

Much of Exley’s research has focused on aluminum, the most abundant metal in the earth crust. That also explains why it is often found in foods, since plants absorb it from soil. And while the body excretes much of the aluminum it ingests, Exley argues that the overwhelming presence of the compound in products we use means some of it remains in the body.

“At some point in time, the accumulation of aluminum in the brain will achieve a toxic threshold and a specific neurone or area of the brain will stop coping with the presence of aluminum and will start reacting to its presence,” Exley wrote in a piece for Frontiers in Neurology.

He says that overexposure to aluminum can cause certain diseases to become more aggressive or develop earlier. “Such occurrences have already been shown in Alzheimer’s disease related to environmental and occupational exposure to aluminum.”