Aluminum Chelation Therapy of Alzheimer’s Disease

Although controversial in the past, strong evidence now implicates aluminum in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A recent epidemiological study employed autopsy verified AD brain and controls together with residential histories as measures of exposure to aluminum from municipal drinking water supplies in the province of Ontario. The results indicate that in communities consuming drinking water with annual average concentrations greater than 0.1 mg/L Al, the risk of dying with AD was 2.5 times greater than in communities with less than 0.1 mg/L (McLachlan et al., 1994). In communities exposed to greater than 0.175 mg/L, the risk rises to 4.8. Similar findings result from assessment of risk based on final hospital discharge diagnoses (Neri et al., 1992) or impairment in cognitive function in an elderly male population (Forbes et al., 1992).