No one knows what exactly causes Alzheimer's disease, which affects nearly five million Americans. But a growing body of evidence suggests that toxic metals particularly aluminum salts, which are unfortunately often used in processed foods and drinking water, can be a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, which eventually completely disables patients and eventually leads to death.A review published in the April 2013 issue of Cell Biology and T oxicology explains that aluminum can induce intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease. Aluminum is involved also in other diseases such as anemia, osteomalacia, hepatic disorder in addition to Alzheimer's disease, according to the review.
Samantha Davenward from Keele University, Stoke-on-T rent, Staffordshire, UK and colleagues, authors of the review, say "T his Al-evoked phenomenon is coupled to diminished mitochondrial activity, anerobiosis, and the channeling of α-ketoacids towards anti-oxidant defense. T he resulting metabolic reconfiguration leads to fat accumulation and a reduction in AT P synthesis, characteristics that are common to numerous medical disorders."
J. R. Walton from University of New South Wales in Sydney NSW, Australia has also published a review recently in Journal of Alzheimer's Disease suggesting that although many toxic or infective agents may cause the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease, chronic aluminum neurotoxicity in many cases is at least mainly if not 100% responsible for Alzheimer's disease.
Walton says many people routinely ingest aluminum salts used in processed foods and alum-treated drinking water and those who carry a susceptibility gene may have an increased absorption of aluminum leading to the development of Alzheimer's disease. High levels of aluminum have been found in the blood and the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease or Down syndrome.
There are no cure for Alzheimer's disease, all conventional doctors would say. So is it really that Alzheimer's disease patients can't do anything to help themselves?
Samantha Davenward from Keele University in Stoke-on-T rent, Staffordshire, UK and colleagues have recently published a study also in Journal of Alzheimer's Disease suggesting that drinking silicon-rich mineral water may help reduce the body burden of aluminum in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Davenward and colleagues compared two groups of patients with Alzheimer's disease, with the study group assigned to drink up to one liter of a silicon-rich mineral water each day for 12 weeks and the control group not drinking such water and found study patients reduced aluminum levels in their systems and three out of 15 study patients were found to improve their cognitive performance significantly while the water did not affect the urinary excretion of essential minerals like iron and copper, which are beneficial.
