Saturday, July 28, 2012

Aluminum

Although not strictly a heavy metal, aluminum is the most abundant metal on the planet. It is naturally found in air, found in air, food, soil, and water. Our bodies can excrete small amounts of aluminum without damage. Some experts estimate that a daily allowance of about twenty milligrams of aluminum often exceeds this amount, sometimes substantially, and with potentially serious consequences.

Aluminum is known neurotoxin agent linked to Alzheimer's disease. Forty years ago, scientists injected aluminum into their brains of rabbits and made startling discovery: aluminum triggered the formation of neurofibrillary tangles, the same type found in Alzheimer's disease. This caused researchers to examine diseased human brains.

Aluminum can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause nerve cell death. Once aluminum enters into the brain, it promotes inflammation by causing the formation of Brian-damaging free radicals and induces numerous toxic reactions, including the disruption of calcium control. Aluminum makes its way into the brain by essentially impersonating iron, thereby tricking the Brian into allowing it to cross the blood brain barrier.

There are abnormally high concentrations of the metal aluminum in the brains of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Some studies indicate that the brains of Alzheimer's patients contain thirty times the levels of aluminum of their healthy counterparts. Their is still debate as to whether aluminum causes Alzheimer's , or it is known that aluminum is so toxic to the brain that it interrupts over fifty brain chemical reactions, and its relationship to Alzheimer's is undeniable.
Additional studies are being done to better understand the toxic effects of elevated exposure to aluminum, and so far the results are frightening. Not only has aluminum been shown to have ties to Alzheimer's but also to the increasing incidence of Parkinson's disease.

Symptoms of Aluminum Excess
  • Belching accompanied by head colds
  • Colic
  • Constipation accompanied by throbbing headaches
  • Convulsions
  • Cravings for meat
  • Excessive perspiration
  • Gastrointestinal irritation
  • Indigestion caused by potatoes
  • Loss of taste
  • Nausea
  • Numbness, stiffness, or loss of sensation in arms/legs
  • Poor or failing memory
  • Rickets
  • Rough skin
  • Stitching or burning pain in head with dizziness, relieved by eating
Source: "The Brain Wash" by Michelle Schoffro Cook