Ask TreeHugger: Is Aluminum Cookware Bad For You?
by Helen Suh MacIntosh, Cambridge, MA, USA 
on 05.17.07
Question: I've seen Asktreehugger articles on Treehugger.com and I'm very glad that you're doing this. I have a question about aluminum. I know the health risk aluminum can create for the body if one takes in too much as well as it's link to Alzheimers disease. I know that aluminum cookware, cans, and that antiperspirant can pose health risks. My question is about aluminum "cookware". I've heard cooking acidic foods in aluminum cookware can cause the aluminum to leach out of the pan so I've avoided them. However, I've found a high quality cast aluminum manual juicer by Ra Chand and I'm wondering if this all aluminum juicer will pose a significant risk to my health. Do you think the risk to my health will be high if I use it daily to squeeze oranges and other citrus fruits-especially because of their acidity? Could they cause enough leaching of aluminum for it to be a health risk? Or does the aluminum have to be exposed for a relative time period to the citrus for leaching to occur. What would you recommend?
Response: Aluminum, a soft metal, is found nearly everywhere in the environment. Most exposures to aluminum occur through ingestion or eating and drinking, with daily intakes generally low, averaging between 30-50 mg. For the typical person, drinking water, medicines and other pharmaceuticals (such as antacids and antiperspirants) are the biggest contributors to aluminum exposures; however, aluminum cookware is also a potential source. As you note, aluminum exposures have raised some health concerns due to the effects of aluminum on the human nervous system and the much discussed (but inconclusive) linkages between aluminum exposures and Alzheimer's disease.
Aluminum exposures from cookware, of which more than half is made of aluminum, is not well studied, but is thought to be a relatively minor source of aluminum exposures. Exposures to aluminum through food can occur when aluminum leaches or otherwise dissolves from the cookware into the food. Leaching is most likely when the foods being cooked or stored are highly basic (like baking soda) or highly acidic (like tomato sauce, lemon juice, oranges, or vinegar). For example, tomato sauce has been shown to contain 3-6 mg aluminum (per 100 g serving) after cooking in aluminum pans, which translates into about one-tenth of the typical daily intake. This leaching of aluminum with acidic foods does not happen with aluminum cookware that is anodized, or electro-chemically processed to seal the aluminum in the cookware. Clemson University Extension’s Home and Garden Information Center tested different cookware types, and found anodized aluminum cookware to be safe. Regardless, it would probably be wise to store tomato sauce and other acidic foods in something other than an aluminum pot.
As for the juicer that you mention, I did a quick and non-exhaustive check of various websites, none of which said that the juicer is made of anodized aluminum. One site did say that it was made of acid-resistant aluminum and chrome, suggesting that the aluminum is somehow sealed and that leaching of aluminum will not occur during the juicing process. An easy way to check for this is to look at the juicer and see whether the aluminum becomes pitted or pock-marked after several uses. Since leaching takes time and juicing is a relatively quick process, this pitting would not occur immediately but would rather occur over time. As a result, you should probably continue to check your juicer for pitting over time.
Previous Ask Treehugger columns can be found here.
Helen Suh MacIntosh is a professor in environmental health at Harvard University and studies how pollution behaves in the environment and how it affects people's health. Please keep in mind that her answers are just her interpretation of available information and should not be taken as the only viewpoint or solution to a problem. Use this column at your own risk. Having said this, please feel free to post any of your environmental health questions to Helen@TreeHugger.com. (Please use a descriptive email subject line and mention if you want to remain anonymous or not).
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I'm an acupuncturist in California. Reciently a patient came to my clinic, her four week old baby had chronic diarrhea. She was seeing me because she was not producing sufficent milk for the baby. I found in an old (1940's) book on pediactrics mention that heating a baby's formulea in aluminum cook wear causes diarrhea in babys. She eliminated the aluminum; problem solved. The lactation deficency was helped but not eliminated by with acupuncture.
I knew it! That's why I avoided a KleanKanteen and bought a SIGG stainless steel bottle instead. I buy milk in glass jugs too! :)
so i guess that stainless steel is the alternative to aluminum pots? I have long replaced my teflon frying pans with cast iron frying pans and i have noticed discolourisation in my aluminum pot.
Apparently, larger than average deposits of aluminum salts have been found in the brain matter of Alzheimer's.
However, it's not concluded whether these deposits are a cause of Alzheimers, or an effect.
Or if you are REALLY concerned about it, just get stainless-steel covered aluminum pans (which transfer heat really well.) I have All-Clad and love it.
For your information, here are some quick notes about aluminum, in Q/A. format:
Q: How does anodized aluminum differ from regular aluminum?
A: Anodized aluminum has had its surface hardened via an electro-chemical process. This hardening also makes it resistant to reactions that tend to pit and degrade aluminum.
Q: What about aluminum cans?
A: Beverage companies learned long ago that bare aluminum sometimes leaves an off-taste due to reacting with acids in drinks held in aluminum cans. They also fixed this long ago by coating the can interiors. None of your drinks actually touch any aluminum, except for the tiny bit that comes in contact with the drink when it is poured through the opening of the can.
Q: What kind of exposure to aluminum does one have in nature?
A: Bauxite is a natural aluminum ore. It is found in clay. shale, and granite. Aluminum does not exist in metallic form in nature.
Q: Where else does one come into exposure to aluminum.
A: In the substance called "Alum", and in a lot of deodorants and some aftershaves and astringents.
Q: does that mean I should not use aluminum at all?
A: No. Sometimes, aluminum does a better job than anything else available. (Aluminum foil, for example.) It is also very recyclable. If you use aluminum cookware, I recommend using only anodized aluminum cookware. Just don't cook acidic foods in bare aluminum or non-stick coated aluminum if the non-stick surface has scratches that expose the underlying aluminum.
Uh, actually Klean Kanteens are:
"...are constructed from high quality sanitary grade 304 stainless steel which has a low nickel content."
*from their website
THANK YOU for the clarification about the difference between plain aluminum and anodized aluminum -- I will finally have a scientific answer with which to get my mom to stop hassling about my anodized aluminum cooking pot!!! (Not to mention, I won't have that nagging worry in the back of my mind any more.)
i can taste my aluminium cooking pots (trangia). Not sure if this is good for me, though thinking that because it doesn't occur naturally in metalic form in nature that it probably isn't......
Actually Sigg bottles are aluminum, Klean Kanteens are stainless steel.
An antacid pill will have over 50mg of Aluminum, so simple heartburn can lead yo to ingest over 200mg of Aluminum. The amount that would leach from cooking in an aluminum pan is a small fraction of this and other normal aluminum intake from food.
FDA note on alumnium cookware with historical perspective
Wow thanks! I wrote this a long time ago but I never checked back for the answer or bought the juicer. I am thinking about doing so at the moment. I will look for pits as you said. Thanks again!
just wanted to say that aluminum in most brands of baking powder was not mentioned - check the label
If an anodized aluminum pot is badly scorched, is this likely to result in greater leaching or release of aluminum into food? We recently scorched a pot pretty badly, while steaming vegetables and the water had all boiled off. The pot was caphalon without a nonstick surface.
when i line my aluminum pans with 2 layers of wax paper or silicone baking paper will this prevent the aluminum from leeching to the food?
Answer for: Josafa Tagaysay
My experiance with Aluminum Pans, if you put 4 layers of baking paper the food will stay clean of any aluminum leaching.
My mother used to cook every night dinner in an Aluminum Stock Pot My younger sister had for more than 3 years constantly Strept
Throat, her doctor told her he gives her 2 more months if her condition continues He's schedueling her tonsils to be removed,
we decided to try cooking dinner in Stainless steel pots & GUESS WHAT: Its more than 5 Years now since her Strept is Gone for GOOD.
I bought a cast aluminum griddle. I am hesitating to use it. Is this product safe? What is the difference between cast aluminum and anodized?