ALUMINIUM
Nature has designed the human body to consume food and in turn these foods ‘should’ contain minerals. These food state (or plant derived) minerals are in a form which the body can recognise, absorb and digest. Minerals in ‘food state’ are either utilized by the body or naturally passed through the system and dis-guarded if not required.
Any other form of mineral (Metallic) is literally useless and in some cases dangerous for us humans to consume as you quite rightly suggest. Bananas, broccoli, spinach are just a few that contain significant levels of ‘food state’ aluminium, indeed, aluminium is one of the most abundant minerals in our soils and everything that grows in soils will contain plant aluminium.
This misunderstanding of minerals is part of what we try to help people understand; at a seminar the audience was asked “Would you rather consume the aluminium from a banana or from a pot or pan or indeed the iron from spinach or that from a ground up iron bar?” – I suppose this highlights the fundamental difference between plant derived (food state) minerals and metallic minerals.
Some manufactures will bond or chelate other elements to metallic minerals to try and ‘fool’ the body into absorbing them. These types of metallic mineral supplements have little or no real benefit. There are some metallic minerals which are toxic if consumed in quantity (ie iron or aluminium) and the body really doesn’t understand what to do with metallic minerals so in many cases they just build up until a problem is caused.
The following is an interesting article from a lab in Oregon. ALUMINIUM for Brits using ‘Queens English’ 🙂
Aluminum (Al) is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust, after oxygen and silicon. An element that makes up about 1/3 of earth’s crust. It is very common in plants and is found in most food we eat. There have been many studies connecting disease with metallic aluminum, even a possible connection with Alzheimer’s disease. For that very reason, over the last 20 years many persons have avoided aluminum cookware and products with METALLIC aluminum. But they eat lettuce, potatoes, wheat, and tomatoes that contain plant-derived aluminum on a daily basis.
Don’t feel bad if you have been confused about products with plant-derived aluminum in them. Even leading nutritional doctors and leaders of countries such as Finland did not know the difference. Finland is now in the process of changing their federal law because it was unlawful to consume more than 2 mg of aluminum daily. They made no distinction between metallic aluminum and plant-derived aluminum. When they became aware that the plant-derived form was not harmful, and that their law would make it illegal to eat more than just a sliver of a banana, they took steps to change it.
Aluminum is contained in many foods, as well as many other products. A paper published in 1990 by the Harvard Medical School counters the “scientific studies” that have mistakenly attacked aluminum. (Note: They’re now attributing Alzheimer’s to some sort of “plaque accumulation”, and have ceased naming aluminum.) The following is an excerpt quoted from this Harvard Medical Newsletter.
“Dr. McLachlan believes that the controversy over aluminum derives in part from the inability of one laboratory to reproduce the results found in another. Some of this he attributes to the difficulty of the analytic methods needed to detect aluminum accurately. You have to look at the form in which the aluminum is being delivered, says Dr. Perl.”
Here are some results from the ATL Agronomy Handbook, under the section “Plant Analysis Guide Nutrient Sufficiency Ranges.) PPM and Mg/L (parts per million and milligrams per liter) are considered equal since there are 994,000 mg in one liter.
Aluminum: Plant Food in PPM:
Asparagus 90 Oil Palm 98 Bananas 97 Peas 45 Beans 165 Peanuts 75 Brussels Sprouts 65 Peppers 75 Celery 190 Pineapple 100 Coffee 97 Potatoes 100 Corn 140 Root Crops 140 Cucumbers 90 Small Grains 135 Soybeans 75 Leaf Crops 50 Tomatoes 90 Melons 65 Wheat 140 Mint 140 Head Crops (lettuce) 90
from: C & M Laboratories Int’l, Inc. 338 Ramsey Ave. Grants Pass, OR 97527
Ref: ATL Agronomy Handbook, “Plant Analysis Guide Nutrient Sufficiency Ranges”.
