Aluminum is a neurotoxin, so it affects the nervous system and the brain. According to experts, it plays a vital role in Alzheimer’s disease.
However, there are numerous natural plant extracts and nutrients which can lower or prevent aluminum toxicity in the brain and thus avoid cognitive disorders, like memory loss.
Dr. Walter Lukiw, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Ophthalmology at Louisiana State University, led a team of neuroscientists, who examined the possible contribution of aluminum to the onset, development, and progression of Alzheimer’s for 3 decades.
They have provided a summary of their study in a peer-reviewed article published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
They stated that “Aluminum’s contribution to Alzheimer’s disease is based on at least seven independently derived observations.”
This is a short explanation of the 7 pieces of evidence:
- Aluminum stimulates an inflammation in the brain by increasing the pro-inflammatory molecule called nuclear factor-kappa beta (NF-kB), an important feature in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
- It promotes beta-amyloid plaques in the brain at levels matching those currently found in humans.
- It leads to the same kinds of cellular energy deficits that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease, like impaired signaling involving ATP and energy utilization.
- Numerous studies have found the relation between the amount of aluminum in drinking water and the incidence of Alzheimer’s. (Namely, aluminum is added to drinking water all around the world, with the aim to clarify or “finish” it.)
- Out of the many thousands of brain gene messenger RNA molecules (molecules that convey genetic information from DNA to cause gene expression), aluminum increases the same ones that are increased in Alzheimer’s disease.
- The addition of aluminum to the diets of animals suffering from Alzheimer’s leads to additional brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease, like programmed cell death, oxidative stress, and deficits in gene expression.
- The most effective Alzheimer’s therapy so far is chelation, which makes use of an aluminum chelator.
The effect of aluminum and its potential to lead to Alzheimer’s cannot be tested on humans, so researchers try to get to some conclusion by conducting animal studies.
However, scientists now have proven that aluminum, even in small doses, directly leads to learning deficits, Alzheimer’s-like memory impairment, and behavioral problems in animals.
For example, it has been shown that rats which consume aluminum in the same amounts as Americans consume it through food suffer severe Alzheimer’s-type cognitive deterioration in old age.
Namely, animals which have been subjected to aluminum, apart from developing Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, also show definitive evidence of this disease in the brain.
-The accumulation of aluminum again happens in the cells of particular regions of the brain which are more susceptible to damage in Alzheimer’s.
-Numerous studies have shown that aluminum leads to the abnormal formation of beta-amyloid plaques in the animal brain.
These plaques are created as soon as beta-amyloid, or the pieces of sticky proteins clump together and obstruct cell-to-cell signaling at synapses.
Moreover, they activate the cells of the immune system which stimulate inflammation and devour disabled cells. These aluminum-induced beta-amyloid plaques occur in the same regions of the brain in both, animals and people.
-The exposure to aluminum causes another change in the brain,consistent with Alzheimer’s disease- the formation of neurofibrillary tangles, which are abnormal collections of twisted protein threads in nerve cells that are primarily made of a protein, tau.
Similarly to beta-amyloid plaques, the neurofibrillary tangles impair the ability of neurons to communicate with each other and are a prominent characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.
Worldwide, numerous researchers have published papers which report the conclusion of the evidence provided by animal and human studies. Namely, they warn about the dangers of aluminum and its major role in the case of Alzheimer’s.
This is what some of them have said about the link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease:
“There is growing evidence for a link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease… it is widely accepted that aluminum is a recognized neurotoxin and that it could cause cognitive deficiency and dementia…” Masahiro Kawahara, Department of Analytical Chemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University of Health and Welfare, Japan
“…studies suggest that aluminum may not be as innocuous as was previously thought and that aluminum may actively promote the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.” Stephen Bondy, Environmental Toxicology Program, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA
“Overall, the evidence indicates that Alzheimer’s disease is a human form of chronic aluminum neurotoxicity.” J.R. Walton, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, St George Hospital, Sydney, Australia
“The hypothesis that aluminum significantly contributes to Alzheimer’s disease is built upon very solid experimental evidence and should not be dismissed. Immediate steps should be taken to lessen human exposure to aluminum…” Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
“As scientific publications continue to support the hypothesis that aluminum toxicity is involved in Alzheimer’s disease, it would be prudent to adopt strategies for preventing excessive aluminum exposures…” Maire Percy, Ph.D., University of Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Christopher Exley, Ph.D., of Keele University in the United Kingdom, is a preeminent researcher who studies the detrimental effect of aluminum.
Together with his team, he found that aluminum accumulates in the brain with age. Moreover, they have shown that numerous people older than 70 have a potentially pathological aluminum amount accumulated in their brains.
This team was the first to show significantly higher levels of aluminum in the brain in an individual diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, after an occupational exposure to aluminum. It has been directly linked to damaged cognitive function.
The more people were subjected to aluminum, the poorer their performance was on memory tests, as well as other cognitive functions.
Dr. Exley presented the case of a previously healthy man, who at the age of 58 was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, following an 8-year regular exposure to aluminum sulfate dust.
Initially, this man suffered from tiredness, mouth ulcers, and headaches, and over time, he started suffering from depression, memory issues and was eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The cerebral cortex of his brain was examined after his death in 2011 and was found to have abundant beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, consistent with Alzheimer’s in an advanced stage.
His family and the local coroner required that the samples of the brain tissue were sent to Dr. Exley for further analysis of aluminum.
This rare, but highly favorable opportunity enabled Dr. Exley to thoroughly examine the aluminum in a region in the brain.
He found aluminum accumulated in the brain tissue of this man. It was found in so high amounts in the frontal lobe, that it led to disease.
Yet, Dr. Exley’s data cannot provide an exact proof that the aggressive Alzheimer’s disease is a direct result of aluminum. However, he states that regarding the aluminum’s neurotoxicity, it is highly likely to be the reason.
Therefore, there is growing evidence that aluminum is directly linked to Alzheimer’s, so you should reduce your exposure to this metal at all costs, and thus protect your own health.
