Sodium aluminum sulfate and several other aluminum compounds are listed by the FDA as GRAS:
Generally Regarded as Safe.
About twenty years ago, one study found increased levels of aluminum in the brains of deceased Alzheimer’s victims. Ever since then, suspicions have been circulating that aluminum, whether in food or water or dissolved from aluminum cookware by acidic foods such as tomatoes, causes Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and/or Lou Gehrig’s diseases.
A great deal of subsequent research has been done, with conflicting and contradictory results. At this writing, the Alzheimer’s Association, the FDA, and Health Canada, the Canadian federal department of health, all agree that there is as yet no verifiable scientific evidence for a relationship between aluminum ingestion and Alzheimer’s disease, and that there is therefore no reason for people to avoid aluminum.
In the words of the Alzheimer’s Association, “The exact role (if any) of aluminum in Alzheimer’s disease is still being researched and debated. However, most researchers believe that not enough evidence exists to consider aluminum a risk factor for Alzheimer’s or a cause of dementia.”
As one of millions of people afflicted with chronic heartburn, I swallowed large doses of Maalox (MAgnesium ALuminum hydrOXide) and similar aluminum-containing antacids for many years before the new anti-reflux drugs were invented. Yet I have no signs whatsoever of Alzheimer’s disease.
Now, what was your question?
Aluminum foil has a shiny side and a dull side. Some people believe that one side or the other should be used for certain purposes. Not true. It makes no difference which side is up. The only reason the two sides look different is that in the final stages of rolling out the metal, two sheets are rolled together as a sandwich to save time.
Where they contact the polished rollers they come out shiny; where they contact each other they come out somewhat duller.
