And then there's this ...

http://www.snopes.com/cooking-with-aluminum-foil-puts-you-at-risk-for-alzheimers/

Aluminum reacts with oxygen instantly and forms aluminum oxide. Alum Oxide is extremely stable, almost as hard as diamond ( Rubies and sapphires are forms of alum oxide), and will not react with most chemicals, not with water for sure. Your body can never have direct contact with pure aluminum.

Have you noticed that since people started to cook with aluminum, life span has increased drastically, 20 - 30 years plus?

dcarch

True, Alzheimer's patients have higher concentrations of aluminum in their brains than healthy people ( but then we wouldn't be examining their brains of they were "healthy")...but there is no evidence that the concentration is the cause of the dementia.
Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust and the 3rd most abundant element.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/165315-overview
There is no worry about foil in direct contact with food. However there is some thoughts that cooking in foil causes some off gassing which may be harmful to breathe.
Aluminum pots and pans that have become dull and whitish with age, are coated with aluminum oxide ( or sulfate) which is not an aluminum ion and not harmful....but acids can dissolve this coating. I don't cook jellies nor tomatoey things in aluminum....and when I cover things like a pan of lasagna, I don't put the foil directly on the food. I have had tomatoes eat a hole in the foil and I think it tastes metallic.
I stopped reading anything but jokes in Reader's Digest years ago...it's a little like Fox News.

I would think that cooking with aluminum pans would be worse than using aluminum foil. Also, there should be more risk from using antiperspirant made with aluminum, but this does not appear to be the case, according to WEB-MD.

I do not use much aluminum foil in cooking, but I do use it as a tent, loosely covering chicken or turkey. I have some aluminum pans, but they are anodized, if that makes any difference.

Just wondering if skeptics read the article comprehensively?

Excerpts:

"...According to the World Health Organization, human bodies are capable of properly releasing small amounts of aluminum efficiently, so it’s considered safe to ingest 40mg per kilogram of body weight of aluminum per day. Unfortunately, most people are ingesting far more than this...

... Studies have also found that high aluminum intake may be linked to a reduction in the growth rate of human cells, and may be potentially harmful for patients with bone diseases or renal impairment....

...A 2012 study published in the International Journal of Electrochemical Science investigated the amount of aluminum that leaches into food cooked with foil. The amount varied based on factors such as temperature and acidity (fish and tomatoes are highly acidic), but the findings showed conclusively that aluminum foil does leach into food cooked in foil. “Aluminum foil used in cooking provides an easy channel for the metal to enter the human body,” the study authors wrote. “The increase in cooking temperature causes more leaching. The leaching is also highly dependent on the pH value of the food solution, salt, and spices added to the food solutions.”

Ghada Bassioni, Associate Professor and Head of the Chemistry Division at Ain Shams University, conducted research with a group of colleagues that explored the use of aluminum for cooking and preparing food particularly at high temperatures. “The acidity of the food would enhance further leaching of aluminum into the meal,” she said, adding: “How aluminum will actually harm your body depends on many factors like your overall well-being and consequently how much your body can handle accumulation of it in relation to the allowable dosages set by the World Health Organization.”

So should you stop cooking with aluminum foil? It seems the general consensus is that we should, at the very least, cut way back..."

My dear mother uses foil regularly to cook things w/ lemon, wine & other acidic things. It's ostensibly to cut down on pan cleanup, but the mess never seems any less & the acids in contact w aluminum @ high heats is concerning to me.

I understand about Alzheimer's connection being questioned, but what about the other health issues?

They seem to neglect to mention aluminum pans and also do not mention the exposure to aluminum from antiperspirant.

It takes me years to go through one roll of aluminum foil, and I use it mainly as a loose cover. However, I use aluminum pans frequently.

I just do not like cooking with aluminum foil, and I never use it to line pans.

And since this is a cooking forum, they forgot about the sodium aluminum sulfate in most baking powder unless you go old school with Rumford for your baking needs.

The main point they didn't cover was the actual concentrations of aluminum salts generated by the leaching. It could be high or low. The reason many in these fields may not be very alarmed is that they suspect the values are low compared with normal clearance rates. It would be interesting to know if Alzheimer's blocks normal clearance.

So much of what was in that article was "faux science" or failed to give any information about who conducted the study and how.
Fish is NOT highly acedic nor is any meat. The buffering action of lactic acid in the muscle keeps the Ph level near the 7 mark...or not far below. It produces an acedic effect in your body when digested, but is not acedic before being consumed.
Of far greater concern to me is the aluminum found in processed foods and that used as a preservative ....say for the alum used in pickles and the chemicals in pasteurized processed cheese foods.
And the aluminum in deodorants is an aluminum compound, not elemental aluminum.

I would not rule out aluminum and Alzheimer relationship totally. There is a possibility that some people are biologically susceptible to brain damage by aluminum. By simple observation, the vast (huuuuge) number of people using aluminum for such a long time with no ill effects, we can surely say aluminum is food safe.

There are people who will die eating one peanut. We are not going to label peanuts as poisonous.

dcarch

I switched to parchment as we have a recycle program in our city. It can be composted - aluminum can't be so I rarely use it.

The Alzheimer's/aluminum pan thing has been debunked by the Alzheimer's researchers as being non-causational. The article seems unduly alarmist considering all the things that we know right well are harmful and aren't alarmed about. Parchment paper is far better for lining pans, but remember, it's not just paper--it's coated with silicone or latex. Enamel is inert. I love the enamelled baking trays that came with my oven. But pretty, warm colors in Le Creuset or Staub or the Chinese stuff or others may well have cadmium and other heavy metals in it. No issue on the outside, but you don't want it in the food part of the pan. Lead in crystal will leach into wine, spirits, honey and many other things that people like to use crystal for. The world is a dangerous place.

Aluminum is in our soil and in so many things especially in processed foods, medications, etc. Much less is leached from foil but i still avoid it except for tenting and handy for wrapping with a parchment liner. So many other options when cooking and it seems so wasteful. It was years ago when it was touching the edges of a lasagna i had made ahead and it had holes all over that turned black by the next day.

Articles like that are 'trending'. Or whatever the key word code is at any given moment. Young copy writers grabbing a topic and parroting a few past articles making it a 'fresh' topic for attention...probably not even born when the articles they reference for a quick dollar.

So much of this goes back decades. Many articles no longer even have dates when written anymore.

Yes, the Alzheimer's Assoc. has it on their 'myth' list.

It is an amazing material. Nothing quite like it. I stock it and it lasts forever. Rarely need it but handy sometimes.

I stopped using aluminum pans in the 1970's, as well as aluminum foil on food (I try to use things with covers that fit, but will put an unbleached parchment sheet next to the food if necessary). I buy non aluminum baking powder and non- aluminum based deodorants. I don't eat processed cheese.

There are lots of things in this world you can't control or have influence over and I happen to believe there are lots of things we haven't fully researched enough to draw conclusions. When we know a definitive cause of Alzheimers, then we'll know for sure about aluminum. I've seen lots of things that start out being kind of "health nut" awareness about something, that eventually is shown to have some basis in fact. Since I don't need aluminum implements, or to eat things that have a high aluminum content, I choose not to. Whether that's a wise choice or not, I don't really know. But it makes me happier when I don't use it.

My grandmother thought that eating fish and milk in the same meal would make you sick, others thought that wearing rubber on your feet was bad for your eyesight. People used to think that a pregnant woman shouldn't lift her arms above her head ( like to hang clothes in the line) and it was thought that women should not swim nor take a bath when they were having their period and that you shouldn't go in swimming for an hour after eating.

FWIW, I think "fish and tomatoes" means fish with tomatoes - a rather common preparation - IOW poor language construction...?

Hasn't anyone else experienced acidic foods eating holes in foil? Of course heat would exacerbate that effect.

Water? lol! Well, using that logic, everyone who's ever used aluminum for cooking has died, too. :-)

And some people die much earlier from problems caused by water containing contaminants.

I love that we can all make our own choices and decisions based on what we believe. Notwithstanding, when we don't have any way to know (like with the water in Flint. Michigan).

I think we're on our own here, Carol!

I use a layer of wax paper then wrap in foil and place in a freezer bag when freezing leftovers. That way I can thaw/cook with just the wax paper in the microwave, and reuse the foil. I used to use it alone until I long ago noticed how tomato sauce ate holes in it. It does help prevent freezer-burn.

Anytime I freeze meats, I wrap the meat in plastic wrap first, then in foil. It's just an extra layer of protection, in my mind, more-so than any food danger. I inevitably get tears in the foil moving things around in the freezer, and the plastic is one more layer. Hypothetically, anyway.