What are the sources of too much of aluminium?

Aluminium is everywhere – it is found in food, water, air and many other things which we use every day. A small amount of aluminium is not toxic and most of it is excreted directly. It is toxic if we take too much of aluminium.

The main sources of aluminium include:

• Food – most of the foods contain small amount of aluminium. Tea, cucumber, spices and herbs contain high amounts of aluminium. Aluminium is bound with many substances present in food and thus the absorption is not very high. The common food sources of aluminium are tea, coffee, cereals and soft drinks. Processed food also contains too much of aluminium. The food additives with E-Numbers, E173, E541, E554 and E556 have aluminium or aluminium salts. Compared to breast milk most cow milk formulas have 10 to 20 times more aluminium. Soya based formulas have 100 times more aluminium. Baking powders also contain aluminium in large amounts.
• Water – drinking water has very low amount of aluminium. But this could be absorbed easily. In some countries to remove the turbidity in the drinking water aluminium salts are used and here the levels can be very high. Not all water filters can remove aluminium from drinking water.
• Aluminium cooking vessels – normally aluminium pans and pots are not bad. The problem starts if you cook foods which contain more acids. These foods have very high levels of aluminium. It is better to avoid aluminium cooking vessels. There are many good alternatives available today.
• Packing materials – most of the foil-lined cartons or aluminium cans have little aluminium as they have a lacquer, cardboard or plastic coating. The food can be contaminated with aluminium when food containing acids are packed or cooked in aluminium foils or aluminium trays. Do not store food in aluminium foils.
• Medicines – Many antacids for treating ulcers or indigestion contain large amount of aluminium salts. Normally very little is absorbed. Do not take vitamin C supplement or food rich in vitamin C during you take this medicine and vitamin C makes more aluminium to enter in the blood. Most of the deodorants contain aluminium salts or even aluminiun crystals are directly used as deodorants. Some of the shampoos contain also too much of aluminium.

If you take food rich in aluminium like tea or cucumber vitamin C must be avoided completely. This means tea with a fresh slice of lemon is very bad and you must avoid this completely. These foods must also be avoided during the major meals so that more iron is absorbed. Here vitamin C supplement or fruits containing vitamin C are very useful.

Do not cook acid containing foods like tomatoes or tarmarind in aluminium cooking vessels. These release more aluminum from the vessels to food.

If we know the sources it is easy to avoid aluminium.

I have iron deficiency, what is the relationship between iron and vitamin C?

This is a very important question, if we understand the relationship between these two lots of problems could be solved by us, I mean the iron deficiency.

We need vitamin C for the absorption of iron, so as also aluminium, moreover the transport protein is the same for iron and aluminium. That means if we have more aluminium in our meals, more aluminium is absorbed than iron and this can lead to iron deficiency, thus low haemoglobin values.

If we keep the aluminium levels in our food low and eat foods rich in iron and vitamin C, automatically more iron is absorbed and converted to haemoglobin. This is possible, if we know all the sources of aluminium in our food or also the contamination from aluminium cooking vessels and even from aluminium foils if you pack acidic foods directly in it.

Cucumber and tea are rich in aluminium. Think of rice cooker, the bowel there is aluminium so that our rice is quickly ready. Deodorants are also rich in aluminium which can enter our body through the skin.

The aluminium value of Indian human hair is found to be the highest in the world and I have examined approximately 250 Indian human hairs, most of them had low iron.

Caffeine

Most of us drink coffee to be mentally fit, it is a plant alkaloid and it is also a psychoactive stimulant in human beings. It is found in more than 60 plants where it acts as a natural pesticide and paralyses and kills certain insects which are feeding the plants.

The main sources of caffeine are coffee beans of the coffee plant, tea plants, cacao and kola nut and guarana berries, a famous source in South America.

Caffeine from tea is called theine, mateine from mate, guaranine from guarana, but the chemical compound is only caffeine.

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant in human beings and it removes our tiredness and makes us alert or fit. This is the reason why the beverages containing caffeine like coffee, tea, soft drinks and energy drinks have much popularity.

To get the effects the amount of caffeine needed per person is different and it depends on weight and tolerance. Caffeine takes approximately 45 minutes to begin the effects and it wears off in three to four hours from a normal cup of coffee. It cannot stop sleep and it is only a temporary relief from the tiredness.

In normal or moderate consumption it has no such effect. Many studies using a concentration of 5.5 mg per kg bodyweight to 9 mg per kg bodyweight are reporting more endurance.

Caffeine can make one addict. If you take 400 mg caffeine three times a day, you can develop tolerance in a week. But my personal experience is very different and there are several people who drink two litres of coffee have no problems and others with moderate consumption have problems. Two to four cups but not extremely strong is enough if you like coffee.

Tea has less caffeine compared to coffee and it is very good.

Here are the values of caffeine in different beverages:

Coffee, brewed, one cup (about 100 ml)…………………around 50 mg
Decaffeinated coffee, one cup (about 100 ml)……………around 3 mg
Black tea, leaf or bag, one cup (about 100 ml)…………..around 30 mg
Green tea, one cup (around 100 ml)……………………...around 15 mg

Coffee espresso, around 50 ml……………………………around 100 mg

Moderate consumption of coffee is not bad to our health.

Coca cola has 96 mg caffeine per litre.

Red bull, an energy drink, has 320 mg caffeine per litre.

If you think of the other sources like chocolates and cacao milk drinks, the amounts may add up to a heavy dose.

The health authorities must be careful so that soft drinks with much caffeine do not come to the market. The dose makes the poison.

Today decaffeinated coffee also tastes so good that many are not in a position to distinguish between the two. Everybody can drink because sacrificing something like coffee is really a punishment.

Children should not drink coffee because the caffeine stays in their blood much longer than the adults.