About aluminimum cookware
#353363 - 12/20/09 02:43 PM
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Windchimes
Reged: 09/05/09
Posts: 581
Loc: Northern California
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I would strongly discourage anyone from cooking with solid aluminum cookware.
That being said, I am not talking about stainless steel clad alumininum or one of the newer non-stick finishes with an aluminum base. I am talking about the old Club Aluminum, Guardian Ware, Wagner Ware, etc. that is not clad with anything. Even the older Teflon coatings peeled and exposed the aluminum core.
Yes there are studies that show cooking in aluminum day after day contributes to Alzheimer's disease. My mother and my aunt (non-blood related, by marriage only) both cooked with these once 'state of the art' cookware sets and continued to do so forever in time. They both died of Alzheimer's.
I see no problem with using any vessel that is clad with stainless steel (only the core is aluminum and does not touch the food), likewise the newer Cephalon and other more current finishes that don't peel, nor do I see any problem with using aluminum foil as it is non-absorbant and there will be no aluminum 'transferance' from that either.
Use Mama's and Grandma's old solid aluminum cookware for display only. It's best not to actually cook in them given what is known today.
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Senior female, IBS-D, presently stable thanks to Heather & Staff
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The US Alzheimer's Association and the Canadian Alzheimer Society have a slightly different take on the issue of aluminum pots and pans.
The both conclude that aluminum is no longer considered to be a risk factor and few experts believe that everyday sources of aluminum pose any threat.
Don't mean to cause a stir 
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I agree Windchimes. There are only certain pots and pans I will cook with, and aluminum is not one of them.
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Hi Syl,
You are not causing a stir at all, as far as I'm concerned. You provide us with reported statistics and that is often very helpful.
Even so, I receive several health food email newsletters each week, and this past week we were once again cautioned about cooking in aluminum vessels that have no cladding of stainless steel or a more current non-stick coating.
Personally, I would prefer not to use bare aluminum pots and pans. Many recipes specifically state "in a non-aluminum pan" for various reasons which include a reactive process that changes the taste or texture of the finished dish.
I would have to challenge the authorities who do some of these studies. My mother and my aunt used their aluminum cookware exclusively for over five decades. I have to wonder how many Alzheimer's patients are asked what they cooked their food in over the years, or if the patient could even remember the answer to that question!
I only know that I will not use aluminum cookware that is not clad with something else so that the food does not touch the aluminum during preparation. Why take the risk?
To each his own!
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Senior female, IBS-D, presently stable thanks to Heather & Staff
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Yes, Windchimes, as soon as they come out with these studies, they reverse them 10 or so years later, when you are already going down the tubes from some dreaded disease. I do not trust any of them. I go with my gut on these things.
I usually cook with glass or ceramic, but do have some steel and cast iron. I tend to cook with glass, mostly.
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Hi Windchimes,
I got a chuckle from the irony in your question "I have to wonder how many Alzheimer's patients are asked what they cooked their food in over the years ....". 
Changes in taste due to reactivity with higly acidic or alkaline foods can occur with metals such as aluminum, copper and cast iron.
If you are concerned about aluminum then you have to be concerned about the amount you ingestion from tea, beer, baked goods, drinking water, toothpaste, antacids, etc. For example, the anti-caking agent sodium aluminum sulphate is found in baking powder and other commonly used cooking ingredients.
The 1960s speculation about the role of dietary aluminum in disease, particularly Alzheimer's, spawned a great deal of research over intervening decades. Today it is known that while aluminum can migrate into food from cookware, utensils and wrapping materials the amount leached is negligible and more than 99% of it passes through the digestive system unabsorbed. There is an excellent Health Canada Review of Dietary Exposure to Aluminum on their web site.
BTW - it looks like you had the snow and we had the cold. The temperatures up here on the northern prairies were lower than -35 C and if you include the windchill it was lower than -50 C for over a week. However, there is only a sprinkling of snow covering the ground. Usually by now we have more than a foot. We worry about losing perennials this year. 
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
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Hi Syl,
Quote:
BTW - it looks like you had the snow and we had the cold. The temperatures up here on the northern prairies were lower than -35 C and if you include the windchill it was lower than -50 C for over a week. However, there is only a sprinkling of snow covering the ground. Usually by now we have more than a foot. We worry about losing perennials this year.
Yep we got two feet of snow last week. Now how can that happen when we are 'officially' below the snow level? Well, it sometimes happens when the wind is blowing hard from a specific direction.
Gads, if I had the kind of weather you are experiencing, I wouldn't even poke my nose out my door! 
I love periennials, and they seemingly survive anything, in fact bloom better for me after an extremely cold winter. The purple coneflowers seemingly LOVE freezes, even if I don't. Their color is even more impressive the next spring and summer following a miserable winter. The same holds true for my large oregano patch and the various varieties of rosemary growing around the landscape.
Let's hope you find yourself quite amazed at how the plant world protects themselves and even prospers from what we consider hardships, the proof manifesting next spring.
The bulb world also loves cold and freezes. My daffodils and irises are the prettiest in the spring after a colder winter.
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Senior female, IBS-D, presently stable thanks to Heather & Staff
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