Studies / Aluminum in Drinking Water increases risk of Alzheimer's

Excerpt from book Prevent Alzheimer's Autism and Stroke with 7 Supplements, 7 Lifestyle choices and a Dissolved Mineral by Dennis N Crouse, Ph.D.   

  

 Here is a link to the book https://www.amazon.com/Dennis-N-Crouse-Ph-D/e/B01LFW4782?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1587823760&sr=8-1

Appendix VI

Epidemiology Supporting Aluminum’s Causal Role in Alzheimer’s Disease

Epidemiological studies comparing the level of aluminum in drinking water to the relative risk of Alzheimer’s disease support the contention that aluminum is a casual factor of Alzheimer’s disease.  Using epidemiology studies to find correlations between aluminum ingestion and Alzheimer’s disease has been made difficult because there are many sources of aluminum in the human diet. Therefore it is surprising that correlations have been found between aluminum in drinking water and AD or dementia in the 7 largest epidemiology studies each involving more than 300 people with AD or dementia.  The reason for this may be because aluminum in drinking water is more easily absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract than aluminum in food. It has been found that 0.3% of the aluminum in drinking water is absorbed, while only 0.1-0.2% of the aluminum in food is absorbed³⁹¹.  

Epidemiology studies are only valid if the number of people with AD and/or dementia in the study is high enough to make the data statistically significant. Therefore the 13 epidemiology studies in the following table are listed in order of number of AD and/or dementia cases evaluated in each study.  Note that there are 7 studies involving 300 or more cases of AD or dementia and all 7 of these studies found a greater risk of AD or dementia due to drinking water with higher aluminum levels. There are 6 studies involving approximately 100 or less cases of AD or dementia. With such a low number of cases it is not surprising that four of these studies (e.g. studies 8, 9, 12, and 13) found no statistically significant (NSS) relationship between aluminum in drinking water and the incidence of AD, dementia, or low cognition. For more details on these four studies see the notes at the end of the table.

Notes on Studies 7, 8, 9, 12, and 13

·         Studies 7 (1989) and 8 (1997) were both carried out by the same group at South Hampton Hospital and published with the same lead author (e.g. C. N. Martyn)^80,697. The positive correlation between high aluminum levels in drinking water and AD this group reported eight years earlier in study 7 was described and not retracted in study 8. With 200 fewer AD cases in study 8, they were unsuccessful in finding any correlation between high aluminum levels in drinking water and AD⁶⁹⁷.  Seventy percent of the controls in study 8 were people with dementias and neurologic disorders, other than AD. The authors of study 8 point out that aluminum could also influence the course of these diseases in the controls resulting in a systematic error in study 8. In fact, in study 7 they reported a higher relative risk (e.g. 1.1 - 1.2) of dementias, other than AD,  in men 40-64 years of age exposed to aluminum levels in drinking water over 20mcg/liter⁸⁰. 

·          In study 9 only 4 cases of AD had been exposed to greater than 100mcg/liter of aluminum⁴²⁶.

·         In study 12 the participants only drank water with less that 100mcg/liter of aluminum⁷⁰¹.

·         In study 13 elevated aluminum in drinking water was only ingested for 3 years^79,702.

Conclusion

In Chapter 1 of this book Hill’s criteria was used to show that aluminum is a causal factor for AD.  Epidemiological data supports both the strength and consistency of association between aluminum and AD. These two criteria are part of Hill’s nine criteria for causality.   From the results of the 7 largest epidemiology studies we can conclude, as did the World Health Organization, that “The positive relationship between aluminum in drinking-water and AD … cannot be totally dismissed”⁸³.  Based upon this epidemiological data the World Health Organization recommended a maximum of 100mcg/liter of aluminum in drinking water in 1998 and 2003⁸³