Aluminium content of selected foods and food products

For many years aluminium was not considered harmful to human health because of its relatively low bioavailability. In 1965, however, animal experiments suggested a possible connection between aluminium and Alzheimer’s disease. Oral intake of foodstuffs would appear to be the most important source of aluminium. Consequently, the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives reduced the provisional tolerable weekly intake value for aluminium from 7 mg kg body weight/week to 1 mg kg body weight/week. Analysis of aluminium content of a number of foods and food products was therefore undertaken in order to evaluate the nutritional intake of aluminium. A total of 1,431 samples were analysed within the scope of this study. The data obtained allow a preliminary but current depiction of the aluminium content of selected non-animal foods, food products and beverages.