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Ot- Aluminum exposure/Alzheimers

Trboatworks

Diamond
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Location
Maryland- USA
A guy asked me why the dust make as I was sawing up some old 6061 sheet on a table saw.
I told him the bit I had heard about aluminum exposure and Alzheimer syndrome and mentioned that the powdery oxides I figured were a metal form I didn’t want to breathe.

He figures if any of it was true the trades would know and exposure risk would be published material everyone would have seen.
I figure ok, but I’m still wearing the dust mask.
A bit later he sends me this and a note to keep the dust mask on.
What are you guys hearing?:

Human Exposure to Aluminum Linked to Familial Alzheimer’s Disease - Neuroscience News

That’s current but the suspicion goes back years..
 
The risk is one I first heard about in the 90's. I don't know what current medical thought is, but my basic premise is that virtually any dust you breathe in is potentially harmful, so if you can prevent it do so.

Frankly, I worry more about the noxious molds, bacteria, and other gremlins in the coolant, which is a constant presence when working with CNC lathes and mills. I want to improve the mist collection in my machines, have to make time for it...
 
I wear a mask when I have any doubt about air quality. Same with eye and ear protection. If it might get loud or nasty I wear ‘em.
 
Could be it's more of a contributing rather than a causal factor?

What the link shows is that aluminum that makes it's way into brain tissue (possibly a feat of sorts, given the blood-brain barrier?) correlates to Beta-amyloid protein tangles in the brain.

And those tangles, in turn, correlate with the Alzheimer's variant of dementia in a group of people genetically disposed toward Alzheimer's.

We recently had a talk (a hard science discussion group) from a researcher in Beta A. and Tau proteins and dementia -- and far as I could tell after it we don't really know what causes the tangles or even it's the tangles or some associated defect that screws up neural function. For example, maybe the protein tangles strip the fatty insulation from our nerve axons and cause a sort of ground fault. Really.

And, hold on - there's another study of the same extended family (6000 or so people) with high rates of Alzheimer's - the Columbian family noted in TR's article. Turns out from studying them that it's likely the somewhat similar Tau protein tangles, rather than Beta-amyloid alone, that are responsible for Alzheimer's. Reason they know is that one family member didn't get the disease despite massive Beta-amyloid tangles. Turns out she had a rare genetic defect that messed with the Tau proteins. The discovery might even lead to effective medications or interventions.

A couple members of a local discussion group (wide range of topics) assembled this web site for more info: Dementia :: Social-science-discussion-group

In any case, I'd suspect that breathing fine aluminum dust - or consuming it -- would be more likely than machining it to have it enter the blood stream, then cross the blood-brain barrier??? And even then, maybe not a singular cause?? At least I hope so -- most of the stuff I'm making these days is out of aluminum and brass.
 
The link originally was thought to be aluminum cookware. And it is bad to cook acidic stuff in aluminum, but not due to Alzheimer's.

As far as I know, just about all of it has been debunked. It comes up because of stuff that is found in brains of folks with advanced Alzheimer's, but aluminum is one of the most abundant metals around, found in much of the rock in the earth's crust. It may be that yes the disease creates the aluminum "stuff", but the availability of aluminum does not make the disease.

If you never came near any aluminum metal, you could still pick up aluminum from dust, water, etc.
 
Hope you are right JST, I remember the glitter in the air at the end of a shift in the airplane plant. The air sparkled.
 
Dust in the lungs is almost generally a bad idea. Even if the material is benign.

Aluminum is not a problem. Earth's crust (all those rocks) is 8% by weight aluminum. If aluminum was a problem, we would not be having this discussion, for lack of humans.
 
I was dating a gal who was a Berkeley student at the time in the mid 90's. She told me that she had a group of researchers presenting the links between alzhiemers and aluminum and they were attributing it to antiperspirant. Next time I went to buy some I looked at the ingredients and sure enough it's aluminum oxides. I switched that day to "deodorant" which didn't have any aluminum in it. I don't know if they are related and there was a few days of transition for my body where I was messing up my shirts with sweat but I never looked back. .02
 
I suppose it’s worth noting.
While abundant in the constituents of the earths makeup pure aluminum is NEVER found in nature.
As found, potassium aluminum sulfate must be refined to produce the pure and alloyed aluminum products we use.

I suppose it’s also worth noting, slight shifts in abundant chemical conditions we humans find in our environments can wreck havoc on our health.
We aren’t much more than a chemical machine.

Or are we... lol.

Worth a read:

History of U.S. Iodine Fortification and Supplementation


I’m not fretting but it does seem that the science is still active in the investigation this association as I had also understood it to be debunked:

Aluminum Should Now Be Considered a Primary Etiological Factor in Alzheimer’s Disease

We need a new pressure cooker- it’s gonna be stainless and I’m going to be keeping the dust mask on when sawing aluminum..

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WsQyru5ACmA
 
My understanding is the link to aluminum has been debunked. The studies implicating aluminum were flawed.
The stain they used to examine cells contained aluminum.
 
My take on aluminum exposure is that if there's even a chance that ingesting aluminum causes health issues why take a chance. People have been cooking in metal pots for a very long time yet aluminum pots are a very recent invention. Even camping cookware has gone to titanium.

We tossed our aluminum cookware a long time ago and if we use foil where it might contact food we use parchment paper between.

As for cutting and grinding aluminum my take is that ANY foreign particles in the lungs are a bad idea so masks are a good idea. Most woodworkers are aware that the dust from many species is quite toxic and I think metalworkers are beginning to be more cautious about what they breathe in.
 
The latest stuff I have read about it has some pretty solid links to gingivitis.

Yup, I was on vacation, and one of the bus passengers next to me, related the research being done
in Australia then (2017) to that end.
As well another bus mate, was a dental surgeon from Puerto Rico, confirmed it, and went on to relate
some more science findings of other problems from bad gum health.
 
If you are trying to limit aluminum exposure don't forget the pickles and triple acting baking soda. Many of the cheaper pickles use alum for the sour, I guess it is cheaper than vinegar. I use Rumford's double acting baking soda to stay away from another aluminum based chemical.
 
The link between aluminum and Alzheimers was debunked years ago. Totally. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a believable source.

metalmagpie
 
The link between aluminum and Alzheimers was debunked years ago. Totally. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a believable source.

metalmagpie


“Years ago”

Research is out from this week showing that correlation.

"This is the second study confirming significantly high brain accumulation in familial Alzheimer's disease, but it is the first to demonstrate an unequivocal association between the location of aluminum and amyloid-beta in the disease. It shows that aluminum and amyloid-beta are intimately woven in the neuropathology,"

Human exposure to aluminum linked to familial Alzheimer's disease: New research finds close association between high aluminum content and amyloid-beta -- ScienceDaily
 
One of the bus passengers next to me had clearly decided not to risk any sort of deodorant at all. I couldn't tell if was keeping Alzheimer's away, but clearly it was keeping other things - or rather, other people - away.

:)

So this is how you discredit me ?

Bus ?

More like a logging road vehicle...it was in Patagonia.

Maybe you can use these facts for further cutting ?

The ozzi was a researcher directly involved, she also mentioned the trials with ultrasound for breaking up the white plaque.
Something that is just now making the national news.
 








 
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