Metal gets easily absorbed into body, triggers loss of memory.
The next time you pack food for your loved ones, hope you remember not to use that harmless-looking shiny aluminium foil. You might be triggering off the process of memory loss or some other nervous disorder in that person.
A Lucknow-based scientist has found that increased use of aluminium in daily life, especially in ways where the metal actually gets absorbed in the human body, is behind increasing cases of memory loss, even at a young age.
“The abundant use of aluminium is the primary reason for poor memory and absent-mindedness,” says Prof Abbas Mehdi, scientist at the biochemistry department of Lucknow’s King George’s Medical College (KGMC) (renamed Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, thanks to UP CM Mayawati).
Mehdi is confident his research could lead to path-breaking advances in developing a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The research has been published in Brain Research, an international science journal.
“Memory loss is no more a problem with the old alone, even young are affected due to higher aluminium intake,” he says. It also causes rapid loss of hair among the youth.
The scientist did his research on rats aged between 6 months to 2 years and kept in two different groups. They were administered small doses of aluminium chloride. Once the rats’ behaviour started changing, he mapped their brains. The results were startling. The young rats were much slower in their responses while the older ones had become forgetful.
“Aluminium chloride dissolves in blood and reaches the brain. There it forms a clot of lipofuschin, a protein-like substance called ageing pigment. It is this lipofuscin that starts the process of neuro-degeneration,” says Mehdi.
Last year, researchers at the Michigan University had also come to a similar conclusion. “In skin cells, lipofuscin is the culprit responsible for the dreaded liver spots that appear with increasing age, but in nerve, muscle and other cells, its accumulation has more serious consequences,” the study had revealed. “Abnormal accumulation of lipofuscin is also linked with disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and macular degeneration, as well as the ageing process,” it concluded.
Mehdi points out that the average aluminium chloride level in an Indian’s body is between 30 to 40 mg, much higher than 7-10 mg among Americans and Europeans.
Use of aluminium utensils for cooking is just as bad. Aluminium also gets into our system through fruits and vegetables grown under the soil as aluminium is abundant in the earth’s crust. Mehdi says aluminium is highly reactive and the manner in which we cook (with spices in aluminium utensils) increases our aluminium intake.
Points to remember:
Increased aluminium intake leads to the formation of lipofuscin or ‘ageing pigment’ in brain
Causes memory loss, even among youth
Could lead to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia
Causes untimely loss of hair
Aluminium level in Indians is 30-40 mg, alarmingly higher than 7-10 mg in Americans and Europeans
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