Is it true alsheimers disease is linked to using tin foil? And what about using plastic wrap in microwaves?

There is a big debate in the Alzheimer's disease research community about the aluminum/silicon link.


Here are a couple of websites;


http://www.laleva.cc/environment/alumini鈥?/a>


http://ehso.com/ehshome/alzheimers.htm


http://www.rense.com/general37/alum.htm


http://student.biology.arizona.edu/ad/al鈥?/a>


http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/Facts_about鈥?/a>





The last link, from the alzheimer's society of the UK, has an excellent synopsis of the aluminum debate.





';The 'aluminium hypothesis' was first put forward in 1965 when it was shown that the injection of aluminium compounds into rabbits caused tangle-like formations in nerve cells.





However, these experimental tangles differ in structure and composition from Alzheimer tangles and the human brain.





Since then a number of other circumstantial links between aluminium and Alzheimer's disease have been claimed.





Aluminium has been shown to be associated with both plaques and tangles in the Alzheimer brain. Some groups have disputed these claims and, in any case, the presence of aluminium does not prove a causal relationship - it is more likely to be a harmless secondary association.


It has been claimed that the brain content of aluminium is increased in Alzheimer's disease. However, recent studies in which Alzheimer brains were carefully compared with normal brains failed to find any difference in the overall amount of aluminium.


Various investigations have suggested that Alzheimer's disease is more common in areas where the aluminium content in water supplies is highest, but the method and results of these studies have been questioned. In any case, the amount of aluminium present in water supplies is minute compared with other dietary sources.


Studies of other sources of aluminium such as tea, antacid medications and antiperspirants have also failed to show a positive association with Alzheimer's disease.


People with kidney failure are unable to excrete aluminium and yet they frequently have to be treated with compounds that contain aluminium. Studies of the brains of such patients have shown that aluminium accumulates in nerve cells that are particularly vulnerable in Alzheimer's disease. However, even after years of high exposure to aluminium, patients with kidney failure do not develop dementia or the hallmark pathological changes of Alzheimer's disease.


Treatment with desferrioxamine (DFO), a drug which binds aluminium and removes it from body tissues, has been reported to slow down the mental decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease. However, the effect is small, the drug has to be given by injection into muscle and it also has a major effect on iron stores in the body. Since there is evidence that iron is involved in age-related 'oxidative' damage to tissues, the effects of DFO may have nothing to do with aluminium.


There have been many experimental studies on animals and on isolated cells showing that aluminium has toxic effects on the nervous system, but in almost all cases the doses of aluminium used were much higher than those occurring naturally in tissues.';





As to the plastic wrap; that's an entirely separate issue. Heating plastic wrap breaks it down and releases the formaldehyde and urea used in producing the plastic. Neither chemical is good for you! It's best to heat in non-reactive materials like Pyrex glass and not plastic, melamine, or tupperware-like products. Use waxed paper to cover the open bowl.Is it true alsheimers disease is linked to using tin foil? And what about using plastic wrap in microwaves?
There is some evidence that aluminium is liked to Altzheimers. Not heard about the plastic one though.