Aluminum beverage cans are a very common packaging material in the market. New research suggests that as we age, the kidneys become less able to filter metallic aluminum out of the bloodstream, and eventually the accumulation of metallic aluminum in the brain triggers Alzheimer’s disease.
The new study confirms an important correlation between the amount of aluminum in the brain and Alzheimer’s disease (Alzheimer’s). Alzheimer’s disease is one of the more common forms of dementia and manifests as symptoms associated with neurological degeneration of the brain.
Scientists have known for many years that there is a relationship between metallic aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease. Now, researchers at Keele University in the United Kingdom have finally found a link between aluminum metal and tau protein tangles: Aluminum metal was found in the early stages of the disease in places where tau protein tangles appeared in the patient’s brain.
Scientists know that tau protein amyloid deposits and tangles begin to appear in the brains of patients before the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease manifest themselves. This study suggests that metallic aluminum likely plays an important role in the formation of these deposits and tangles.
“These tangles lead to neural necrosis, and the trace of metallic aluminum within these structures may mean that aluminum promotes their formation.” Matthew Bold, the study’s leader, said in a press release.
Aluminum beverage cans are a common packaging material on the market, as are aluminum cookware.
According to the London-based Alzheimer’s Society, the finding does not mean that any contact between aluminum products and food should be banned. Aluminum is also found in the brains of healthy people, and they speculate that it is because as we age, the kidneys become less able to filter it out of the bloodstream, and it eventually accumulates in the brain and triggers Alzheimer’s disease.
The study was published April 9 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Reports. George Perry, editor-in-chief of the journal, said, “The link between metallic aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease has been known for half a century, and this study describes exactly the important role that aluminum and other multivalent metals play in the development of Alzheimer’s pathology in terms of molecular interactions.”
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