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Should aluminum cookware be banned?
Results so far:
| Yes | 58% | 201 votes | Total: 344 votes | |
| No | 42% | 143 votes |
Yes
by Kerry Biddle-Chadwick
Created on: April 23, 2011 Last Updated: December 31, 2011
Even a small amount of aluminum can cause heavy metal poisoning resulting in digestive problems like heartburn, indigestion and gastritis. Senile dementia and Alzheimer's disease are also connected to long-term exposure to aluminum. Considering that uncoated cookware is not the only source of aluminum leaching into the food that we eat, but that we are also absorbing aluminum through our skin from underarm deodorants and building materials and getting it in our drinking water, any attempt to reduce exposure to aluminum would be a good health choice. Aluminum foil should be treated with the same distrust as aluminum cookware and alternative cooking methods should be used that would normally require the use of foil.
The exposure of workers to the toxic effects of heavy metals has alerted researchers to their nasty effects and have proved to be a major source of information about the harmful effects of heavy metals like aluminum. When workers in a certain factory or manufacturing plant seem to have a far higher incidence of a certain disease, then alarm bells start ringing. One or two exposures to aluminum will not cause mental problems later in life, but the cumulative effects of constant exposure most surely will.
The assumption that some toxic metal absorption is harmless is incorrect as even small amounts of exposure will cause physical and mental changes. With the levels of pollution in our environment, cutting down on exposure to aluminum is more and more difficult. Therefore, cutting out canned goods, aluminum cookware and other sources of contamination makes a lot of good sense.
Often digestive problems are not connected to the use of aluminum cookware, so the first step on the road to healing would be to change the cookware to stainless steel, enamel-coated iron, or glass. The absolute worst foods for leaching aluminum out of the cookware are acid foods like tomatoes or milk and an absolute no-no is to leave foods in an aluminum pot in the fridge to be eaten later.
Pregnant women in particular should avoid aluminum cookware as the fetal brain absorbs aluminum and other heavy metals very easily. Severe morning sickness? It may be the pot that is being used to cook with.
HazMat has a very comprehensive list of items that contain aluminum and the diseases that are connected to constant exposure and so does HazDat. Some items are surprising sources of exposure.
Why take a chance on living a half life later in life. Throw out the aluminum pots and get in stainless steel or glass.
Learn more about this author, Kerry Biddle-Chadwick.
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No
by Richard Cox
Created on: September 08, 2010
There is a misconception that aluminium cookware is somehow unsafe. The main concern centres on a possible link between aluminium and Alzheimer’s disease and the other on the possible toxic nature of aluminium itself. Both these concerns are unwarranted.
The first suggestion that there was a link between aluminium and Alzheimer’s disease was made in the 1970’s when research from Canada showed that patients suffering from Alzheimer’s had evidence of higher levels of aluminium in their brains than healthy patients. In the intervening years further research has discounted this link. It is possible that Alzheimer’s causes more aluminium to accumulate in the brain, but there is no evidence to suggest that higher consumption of aluminium heightens the risk of contracting the disease.
Of course aluminium is toxic is large concentrations, but we all consume aluminium and for most of us that means about 30 to 50mg every day. Aluminium is one of the most common elements in our environment, drinking water has minute traces of it, and it is present in many foods and many medications. There are relatively high levels of aluminium in antacids, aspirin and in the antiperspirants many of us use everyday. Most of the aluminium consumed passes harmlessly through our digestive systems, only a very tiny fraction is actually absorbed into the body.
Aluminium cookware was singled out as something that should be avoided because certain foods with a high level of acidity, such as tomato sauce and vinegar, can react with aluminium, leaking trace amounts from the cookware into the food. Needless to say, most aluminium cookware is treated so that there can be no reaction to food. However, even an untreated aluminium pot will leak only minute traces of aluminium into the food that is being cooked in it. This is backed up by research, showing for example, that cooking tomato sauce in an aluminium pot will lead to the release of about 3mg of aluminium into the food, a small proportion of normal daily intake.
Therefore aluminium pots and pans pose no risk to users, even if they are old and scratched and pitted. Additionally, as mentioned briefly above, aluminium cookware is almost always treated so it cannot react with foods. When aluminium is anodized it goes through a chemical bath and an electrical current and this binds the metal into the pan, sealed in this way the aluminium cannot leach into food.
Furthermore, most aluminium cookware is coated. The exterior is either porcelain enamel, which has a distinctive gloss finish and is very heat resistant, or it is a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethy lene), the most common non stick coating which most of us know as Teflon. PTFE is not damaged by acid or alkali, and is heat resistant to 400°C. PTFE is approved in the USA, Europe, and in many other countries for use on cookware as it has no reaction to food, water or household cleaners. PTFE is used to coat heart stimulators and has even been injected into patients with serious kidney problems. If this non stick coating does peel or scratch and PTFE particles are accidentally ingested, there is nothing to fear as they are not absorbed and simply pass through the body.
Aluminium cookware represents a substantial part of the cookware market, between 40-50% in total. It has significant advantages over other types of cookware. It is lightweight, it has superb thermal conductivity, 13 times more than stainless steel, and heat diffusion is excellent, making for even cooking results.
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