Deadly poison in cooking utensils

New research reveals that millions of unsuspecting Kenyans who utilise aluminium cookware could be cooking their way to early graves due to the poisonous effect of aluminium metal, writes JAMES NG’ANG’A

More than 90 per cent of all households in Kenya are believed to cook their food and boil their liquids in aluminium ware. And the use of aluminium utensils – cooking pots, saucepans, frying pans, teapots and milking equipment continues to spread either because the majority of people are oblivious of the harm, which they can cause, or they know of no alternative.

The Consumer Federation of Kenya on its part admits that “aluminium sufurias are a health hazard”, and recognises the need to take decided action to protect unsuspecting consumers.

But it is the aluminium sufuria that raises more serious health concerns, especially since the agitation caused by the heating process tends to produce an aluminium potency that can be lethal.

According to experts, aluminium destroys food values. When cooking, various chemical poisons are formed according to the type of food. Also, salts become mixed with the metal when seasoning, causing a chemical reaction. Notwithstanding, people have hailed cheap cookware probably because they are tired of the weight and of the difficulty of cleaning earthen pots. Besides, aluminium is cheap and conducts heat well.

Dr Clement Kituyi, a Nairobi – based pathologist, who thinks evidence of aluminium poisoning in the kitchen is all too plain to be ignored.

“We all have seen heavy aluminium sufurias, which were all pitted on the bottom. Where did all that metal go?” he poses. “Of course, it had all gone into the food, which was cooked in these utensils. That’s because aluminium gives off very easily when food is cooked in it.”

Henry Barry, an expert on domestic appliances in Nairobi is of the same opinion and explains how the aluminium sufuria is made even more hazardous.

“Using a metallic spoon to stir food in an aluminium pot means more of the metal is scrapped from the bottom. A wooden ladle would be safer,” he says.

Hazards

Dr Kituyi says most victims of aluminium poisoning initially complain of diarrhoea or looseness of the bowels with stomach troubles that defy any medication. Other symptoms include extreme nervousness, progressive impairment of vision, inability to swallow, involuntary passage of urine when coughing, headache, poor kidney and liver function, memory loss, aching muscles, softening of bones and impaired intellect among others.

“ Infants appear more susceptible to the acute effects of aluminium poisoning, while symptoms in adults do not as a rule, arise until they have been exposed to the harmful influence for some time,” said the doctor.    

Although Kenyan scientists have paid little attention to the subject, quite a number of medical men in various countries have written papers over the years, emphasising the effects of aluminium upon food.

It has, for instance, been established that cooking in uncoated aluminium utensils can increase the amount of aluminium in certain foods such as fruits, which are high in acid, but that cooking foods in coated, non-stick or hard anodised aluminium pans adds virtually no aluminium to food. In these medical journals, it has been shown why aluminium could be responsible for a whole dictionary of modern diseases that defy any medication.

It is estimated that one in every three of the population could be classed as “aluminium sensitive.” To these people, the use of aluminium utensils in the kitchen is dangerous to a minor or major degree. In every such case, aluminium acts as a slow insidious poison, leading on to greater degrees of disease as time passes.

It’s true that a person may feed on aluminised food for years without symptoms of any kind; however, unseen and unheard, there are progressive body changes going on, which may suddenly manifest themselves in a form of serious disease.

However, it’s unclear why some people appear to be more easily affected by aluminium than others. Some scientists think it is hereditary. What is inherited, according to them, is a particular form of biochemical alteration from the usual normal, which in turn results in the biochemical balance being more easily disturbed by aluminium. In every aluminised person with symptoms, one can always get a history of similar troubles in one or both parents. Also, sensitivity to aluminium can develop in persons who have never met with the metal before.

Effects of aluminium metal

Experimenting on animals, doctors have also held post-mortems on those who have died from supposed aluminium poisoning. They found that the metal was deposited in various organs, especially the liver, kidneys, spleen, brain, and muscles.

Aluminium poisoning has lately been linked with skeletal deformities. After years of accumulated storage of it in body tissues, aluminium can stop the body’s ability to digest  calcium, phosphorus and fluoride. This prevents bone growth and reduces bone density. It can also cause conditions, which force calcium out of the bones. Either of these can bring on weakness and deformation in bone structure with crippling effects.

Researchers are now focusing on circumstantial evidence linking aluminium metal with Alzheimer’s disease, whose symptoms include progressive decline of memory and other higher mental functions. The autopsied brains of Alzheimer patients have been found to contain four-times as much aluminium as those of other people. An excess of either aluminium or silicon in the body results in reduced absorption of calcium and other minerals.

Aluminium salts in the brain can produce impaired mental abilities and seizures. Other diseases linked with aluminium include cancer, rheumatism, kidney, skin diseases, eye troubles, appendicitis, piles and ulcers. Ovaries and testes are particularly affected, probably due to glandular imbalance that characterises aluminium poisoning.

Beside cookware, other sources of aluminium include food itself (in small amounts), packaging, such as aluminium foil, treated water and over the counter medications, including buffered aspirin, digestive aides, antacids, to mention but a few.