In recent years, scientific evidence has demonstrated that aluminum is associated with the development of Alzheimer’s. Results of a systematic literature review showed that aluminum is associated to several neurophysiologic processes that are responsible for the characteristic degeneration in Alzheimer’s.
The possible relation between aluminum concentration in public drinking water and Alzheimer’s has been investigated, and the merit of limiting residual aluminum in drinking water supplies deserves serious attention.
In the only human trial to date to remove aluminium from the body of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, the iron chelator desferrioxamine (DFO) was successfully used to both remove aluminium from the body and slow the rate of progression of the disease.
This trial, which was reported in The Lancet in 1991, has not been repeated and that may have been due to the need to inject DFO into the muscle to administer it and side-effects associated with the reaction of DFO with body iron.
In a modest 5-day preliminary study involving only ten individuals, scientists have found that drinking a well-known mineral water regularly could reduce the levels of aluminium in the bodies of people with Alzheimer’s.
Ten individuals with Alzheimer’s were asked to drink up to 1.5L per day of the mineral water, Volvic, for five days as part of their everyday diets. For eight out of ten it resulted in a reduction in their body burden of aluminium in just 5 days.
The objective of the research was to demonstrate a simple method whereby individuals with Alzheimer’s (and indeed healthy individuals) could both limit their absorption of aluminium across the gut and increase their excretion of body aluminium in the urine.
Volvic is a still mineral water containing a high concentration of silicon and the research team believes that it was the silicon (the natural protector against the toxicity of aluminium) in the mineral water which helped to reduce the body burden of aluminium in the individuals with Alzheimer’s.
There is no benefit in accumulating aluminium in our bodies. Anything we can do to reduce its entry and build up in the body can only be beneficial to our health and regular drinking of silicon-rich mineral waters may be a safe and easy way to achieve the lowest possible body burden of aluminium.
Importantly, considering the earlier study using the iron chelator DFO, the new research did not influence body stores of iron and no negative side-effects of drinking the mineral water were reported.
If consuming tap water it’s advised to fit a good filter to eliminate aluminium and other metals from the water.
References:
1. McLachlan DR, Bergeron C, Smith JE, Boomer D, Rifat SL. Risk for neuropathologically confirmed Alzheimer’s disease and residual aluminum in municipal drinking water employing weighted residential histories. Neurology. 1996 Feb;46(2):401-5. PMID: 8614502.
2. Ferreira PC, Piai Kde A, Takayanagui AM, Segura-Muņoz SI. Aluminum as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Rev Lat Am Enfermagem. 2008 Jan-Feb;16(1):151-7. PMID: 18392545.
3. Chris Exley, et al. Drinking mineral water could reduce aluminium in Alzheimer’s disease sufferers. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease
