Aluminum damages your brain

A new study found that aluminum salt, which is already implicated in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease, can cause a variety of damage to the brain cells.

In the study, Rui D and colleagues fro Anhui Medical University in China, gave mice 10, 50 or 300 mg per kg body weight per day through diet for 100 days.

The animals were killed on day 101 and malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), nuclear DNA (nDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage were assessed in the brain cells.

The researchers found that exposure to aluminum chloride increase MDA levels and decreased SOD. They also found aluminum also induced nDNA damage in a dose-dependent manner, leading to an increased formation of 8-hydroxy 2-deoxygluanosine in the mtDNA.

The mechanisms behind the changes remain known, but the researchers believe that "the decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and increase in MDA level in aluminum-treated mice may suggest the involvement of oxidative stress."

Aluminum salt can be present in many food and cosmetic products.

Jimmy Downs