"Peter Aitken" > wrote:
>"Tanya Quinn" > wrote in message
>> But some researchers think there is a link between aluminum and
>> Alzheimer's - not proven though.
>This notion has been thoroughly disproven.

Really? My father's a research in alzheimer disease, and he doesn't
let us use aluminum. He wrote an article on the subject:

***

Alzheimer's-disease-like changes in tau protein processing:
association with aluminium accumulation in brains of renal dialysis
patients.

Harrington CR, Wischik CM, McArthur FK, Taylor GA, Edwardson JA, Candy
JM

Lancet 1994 Apr 23;343(8904):993-7

Tau protein is a major structural protein of the paired helical
filaments (PHFs) found in both neuritic senile plaques and
neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Senile plaques
also contain amyloid beta protein (A beta). We did an immunochemical
analysis of frontal cortex from 15 dialysis cases, 5 Alzheimer's
disease patients, and 6 control cases to see whether AD-like changes
in A beta deposition and tau protein were linked to aluminium
accumulation. Dialysis patients were used because they are frequently
exposed to increased levels of aluminium. 8 of the 15 dialysis cases
had insoluble A beta, but there was no association between its
presence and the accumulation of aluminium. However, we found AD-like
changes in the processing of tau protein. In white matter, truncated
tau protein in the PHF-core fraction and endogenously truncated tau in
the supernatant fraction were both increased in association with
aluminium accumulation in the brain. In grey matter, normal tau
protein was depleted and insoluble hyperphosphorylated tau increased
in association with aluminium concentration. Protease-resistant PHFs
were present in grey matter in 2 dialysis cases, a frequency above
that expected for AD in this age group. PHF-core tau in both grey and
white matter correlated with decreased levels of normal tau protein in
white matter. These findings are consistent with a role for aluminium
in the development of AD-like pathology in patients subjected to
prolonged aluminium exposure.

See also comment in Lancet 1994 Apr 23;343(8904):989-90, Lancet 1994
Jul 16;344(8916):204-5, Lancet 1994 Aug 13;344(8920):486


--
Lucian