8)
Analogy of metal neurotoxicity to
diseases similar to AD:
The two best analogies for a
trace metal in the environment causing a disease, such as aluminum causing AD,
are the effects of lead or mercury accumulation in our brains. Like aluminum
both of these metals slowly accumulate in our bodies over our lifetime and
cause mental illness.
Low level lead exposure was common during the Roman Empire. The people of this period used lead to make
water pipes, cookware, and cosmetics. Corrosion of lead in contact with their
drinking water and application of leaded cosmetics to their skin resulted in
lead accumulation in their bones and brains141. Judging from the amount of lead found in
their bones, these people suffered from mild to severe lead poisoning resulting
in brain swelling that caused severe headaches, confusion, irritability,
seizures, and possibly death. Lead exposure continues today as there is lead in
drinking water due to lead water pipes and lead pollution in ground water. For
more information on the analogy between lead and aluminum exposure see Chapter
8.
Low level mercury exposure is
currently common. Mercury gets into the
environment from both human-generated sources, such as coal-burning power
plants, and natural sources, such as volcanoes. Consumption of fish is the
primary ingestion-related source of mercury in humans. The mercury in both salt and fresh water organisms
is bio-concentrated in the food-chain that ends up in fish and humans. Symptoms
of mercury poisoning typically include lack of coordination and sensory
impairment, such as vision, hearing, speech, and sensation. Although these symptoms indicate brain damage,
mercury also damages the kidneys and lungs and can lead to death.
9)
Experimental evidence showing that AD can be prevented:
The primary goal of this book
is to show that diseases caused by aluminum can be prevented by 7 supplements,
7 lifestyle choices, and a dissolved mineral.
For example AD may be prevented by, antioxidants that counteract the
oxidative effects of aluminum (Chapter 3), avoidance or minimization of
aluminum exposure (Chapter 4), a complexation agent and vitamin that lower
brain aluminum accumulation (Chapter 3 and 5), and a combination of aerobic exercise
and sleep (Chapter 6).
·
The antioxidant PQQ protects
the brain from low level aluminum exposure by inhibiting the formation of
reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reducing ROS as they form in the brain due to
aluminum accumulation.
·
Avoiding foods and
pharmaceuticals, like antacids, that are high in aluminum, filtering drinking
water, and cooking in non-aluminum cookware minimizes aluminum exposure.
·
Orthosilicic acid taken
orally is absorbed into the blood and complexes with aluminum facilitating its
excretion by the kidneys.
·
Vitamin D3 taken orally is
converted by the body to vitamin D that facilitates the excretion of aluminum
by the kidneys, even in the case of damaged kidneys due to kidney disease.
·
Aerobic exercise and sleep
help to cleanse the brain of Aβ peptides and oligomers that are complexed with
aluminum.
The best
evidence that AD can be prevented is comparing the AD rate in countries with
high levels orthosilicic acid in their drinking water, such as Singapore and
Malaysia, with countries with low levels of orthosilicic acid in their drinking
water, such as the U.S. and Iceland.
With
comparable life expectancy and higher orthosilicic acid in their drinking
water, people who live in Malaysia and Singapore have a much lower death rate
due to AD. Since orthosilicic acid
facilitates the excretion of aluminum by the kidneys, there is evidence that
lowering aluminum will prevent AD.
Conclusion: The nine criteria of
causality originally set out by Sir Austin Bradford Hill72 and
applied to neuropsychiatric conditions, such as AD, by Robert Van Reekum73
have been applied using primarily human data taken from studying AD
patients and controls. The conclusions are that aluminum is the likely cause of
AD and AD is a human form of chronic aluminum neurotoxicity. Given these conclusions we as individuals and
a society have a responsibility to take action.
This book proposes what action can and needs to be taken to avoid or
lower our exposure to aluminum and prevent diseases caused by aluminum.
Aluminum an Unrequired and Unwanted Intruder
People representing the
aluminum industry routinely point to aluminum’s omnipresence in our bodies as a
sign of its essentiality. It is true that we all currently have a body-burden
of aluminum but there has been no proven benefit of aluminum in our
bodies. In fact aluminum is a neurotoxin
and aluminum exposure is the known cause of a number human diseases142.
The brain relies on a delicate balance of monovalent (e.g. potassium and
sodium) and divalent (e.g. calcium, magnesium, and zinc) cations in order to
function properly. These cations bind
reversibly and not tightly with aminoacids, such as histidine and lysine that
are involved in the active sites of key enzymes (e.g. protein phosphatase) or on the backbones of key proteins (e.g. β-amyloid and α-synuclein).
Aluminum is a small trivalent cation that can bind tightly to both key
enzymes and proteins in the brain. For
instance magnesium regulates over 300 proteins and aluminum competes for
magnesium binding. Aluminum binds to some of these proteins 10 million times
stronger and dissociates 10 thousand times slower than magnesium143.
This property results in aluminum’s slow accumulation in select areas of the
brain and aluminum’s inhibition of enzymes that causes the onset and
progression of AD and possibly other forms of dementia. Aluminum is an
unrequired neurotoxic element and not a nutrient for normal body function. This makes aluminum an unwanted intruder.
