Aluminum and Acne: A Deadly Heavy Metal For Your Skin And Brain

As of 2016, the US database of chemicals now contains 5 million names. With such a mind boggling array of additives, it’s impossible to study them all, but one of the deadliest for acne is undoubtedly aluminium, a heavy metal found in the Earth’s crust and soil.

Unlike BPA, which infiltrated tap water way back in 1890, aluminium has only climbed to world domination over the last 50 years. The average 1960s human being only ingested minute quantities from foods, absorbed from the soil of fields into plants by their roots.

Nowadays though, aluminium’s industrial uses have exploded, creating dangerous levels in tap water, foods, cookware, and even soy baby formulas.

Aluminium has no biological role in the human body, but like the pore-clogging heavy metal arsenic, you can find it in almost every living acne patient today.

 

Aluminum steals your acne antioxidants

One of the premier sources of aluminium exposure is the aluminium chloride, chlorohydrate, or zirconium added to antiperspirants.

The whole point is that aluminium gets absorbed into skin pores, where it then swells and blocks your sweat output. Recently though, the media has been flooded with dire scare stories suggesting that anti-perspirants are strongly linked to breast cancer.

Read Annihilate Your Acne – get the greatest diet ever for clear and radiant skin

This study, for example, noted disproportionately high levels of cancer mutations in the upper outer breast quadrant, AKA deodorant country. The scientists were worried enough to investigate aluminium further, and the statistics are equally telling: Britain has one of the highest breast cancer rates in the world, killing almost 13,000 British women yearly. Meanwhile, Britons are particularly fond of antiperspirant deodorants, devouring roughly £300 million worth each year.

Even in men, breast cancer has doubled over the past 30 years to almost 300 cases yearly, in tight correlation to chemical deodorant usage. The deodorant fears are so widespread that the UK’s cancer.gov page has an entire article about it.

How is this relevant for acne? Cancer is strongly linked to oxidative stress, AKA a massive depletion of antioxidants and surge in free radicals. Indeed, a banquet of studies suggests that aluminium decreases the pivotal acne antioxidant glutathione.

ONE: this Pakistani study analysed the effect of aluminium on bloodstream glutathione. A “decrease was observed” with a “time dependent effect of aluminium on glutathione levels“.

TWO: this 2005 study tested aluminium on oxidative stress in the small intestine of male rats. They observed a “significant reduction of glutathione content“, with lipid peroxides, the single worst type of free radical for acne, increasing by 52%. Glutathione synthase in the small intestine was slashed by 26%.

Glutathione, as I wrote about here, is the number one antioxidant which humans make themselves. One study even found 20% reductions in glutathione in acne-prone skin.

The method to aluminium’s madness is simple. Glutathione has a dual function as a stage 2 detoxifying agent, whereby the glutathione transferase form attaches itself to heavy metals and reduces them to a less toxic, more easily metabolised state. For example, this Jamaican study found that kids with glutathione gene mutations had significantly higher levels of aluminium.

Therefore, accidentally ingesting aluminium will slowly but surely drain your glutathione supplies, as more molecules are used to detoxify it…

…and what makes aluminium doubly dangerous is that it can prevent glutathione’s production in the first place. Aluminium can inhabit a compound called NADPH which your body uses a glutathione precursor (study). Therefore, this insidious heavy metal not only depletes glutathione, but prevents it from regenerating.

 

Aluminium makes your acne red and angry

What’s more, because glutathione doubles as a major detoxification agent, reduced levels will leave you at the mercy of other heavy metals. Every heavy metal seems to have a unique power: cadmium increases inflammation like a professional, arsenic triggers massive hyperkeratosis, and mercury is the king of insulin resistance.

Aluminium itself also has a bonus power. Its origin from below the Earth’s crust is ironic, because aluminium fuels the fires of chronic inflammation, the number one disease behind acne-prone skin.

This study found that aluminium activated inflammatory proteins in humans, and increased pro-inflammatory chemicals such as interleukin-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-a. This study found immediate inflammatory reactions upon contact with human cells, and this study noticed soaring intestinal inflammation and reduced intestinal healing in mice, which is dire news for gut health and the efficient absorption of acne-clearing nutrients.

Similarly to arsenic, aluminium may even bind to newly manufactured collagen proteins and twist their structure. Aluminium poisoning even has minor links to seborrheic keratosis, a skin condition characterised by non-cancerous skin warts and discolouring.

The 7 greatest topical treatments for naturally clear skin

Seborrheic keratosis is caused by an overgrowth of the skin protein keratin, and fascinatingly, so are clogged pores, as excessive keratin glues your dead skin cells together into giant clumps. In fact, during the Camelford aluminium disaster of 1988, one of the main symptoms observed was disfiguring blotches and rashes.

Dining on aluminium and getting clear skin are two goals which can never be reconciled. 

 

Aluminum is strongly linked to brain defects!

Outside of acne, perhaps the most notorious symptom of aluminium is mental defects, and most notoriously Alzheimer’s disease. 

It’s now time to discuss the nightmarish Camelford disaster of 1988, when a UK lorry driver mistakenly dumped 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate into Cornwall’s water supply. That very night, the residents complained of foul, metallic tasting water, but it wasn’t until three weeks later that local water authorities rose from their slumber. By then, it was too late. In the short term, residents complained of joint pain, stomach cramps, and (interestingly for acne patients) skin problems.

The long term results were the most grim. In 2004, a long-term Camelford resident called Carole Cross died of a rare and aggressive form of Alzheimer’s called congophilic amyloid angiopathy, which was nearly unheard of for a healthy woman aged 58 years old. Guess what – a medical report found dense accumulations of aluminium in her brain.

Next: the 6 vitamins and minerals which can massively reduce acne

Just 6 years earlier, a 1999 study concluded that many Camelford residents had experienced “considerable damage” to their mental and brain function. Amid accusations to the police of a hasty government cover up, there were loud demands for a public enquiry.

Whether aluminium caused Carole Cross’ Alzheimer’s directly will never be proven, but the evidence elsewhere is nearly overwhelming. 

Scientists have been startled to observe recently that even bees are getting Alzheimer’s disease. Bee colonies are already suffering due to pesticides such as glyphosate; UK honeybee numbers have plummeted by a third each year since 2006, due to the dreaded “colony collapse disease”. Hence, bees are closely watched, and in one study, so called “Alzheimer’s bees” who were strangely confused and sluggish had dramatically higher levels of aluminium in their brains.

The worst bees were contaminated with 13 to nearly 200ppm, with the toxic level in human brain tissue being 3ppm.

Given how insidious this heavy metal is today, aluminium is almost certainly a hidden factor in the modern Alzheimer’s disease epidemic, and all the beloved family members it causes to wither away. The brain seems to get preferential treatment in aluminium accumulation.

This 2010 study examined the aluminium accumulation caused by geography and the individual dietary habits of many French people. In the 15 year follow up period, higher aluminium intakes correlated closely to eventual Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Aluminium has been specifically linked to the formation of amyloid plaques, hard protein deposits in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Aluminium – a menace for your skin and brain!

Despite this doom and gloom, there’s still hope. Alzheimer’s is commonly thought to be forever, and yes, it’s mostly irreversible, but the story has twists and turns. One study feeding silica water to patients with dementia observed increased aluminium levels in the urine. The minerals were flushing the aluminium out of the body…

…and after 13 weeks, 3 out of 15 patients scored better on cognitive function tests. These included memory tests and the simple task of drawing a clock face.

Aluminium doesn’t remain in the body forever, as another study documented a woman who had used an aluminium-containing antiperspirant for 4 years. Her blood levels of aluminium were toxic, but the problem resolved itself a mere 8 months after abandoning the antiperspirant. Her symptoms of fatigue and severe bone agony also vanished.

If banishing aluminum can improve something as complicated as impaired cognitive functioning, then improving acne should be much easier. 

 

How to ruthlessly eliminate aluminum (and hence acne)

There’s no need to avoid every last molecule of aluminium to clear acne. It’s a natural element in the Earth’s soil and crust, and has always occurred in drinking water.

However, most Westerners today aren’t consuming low levels. Follow this handy guide, and you will officially advance to the low aluminium club:

Use natural antiperspirants/deodorants – only half of the pungent smell of sweat comes from sweat itself; the other half is your armpit bacteria consuming that sweat and churning out by-products. A combination of baking soda and coconut oil is highly antibacterial, and will keep these colonies under control. It smells decent too, and sticks to your armpits nicely. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then natural, acne-friendly options are all over the internet.

Water – another big problem, because rainwater washes aluminium particles out of airborne factory pollution and straight into the water supply. Hence, investigate your local water quality, and buy mineral water if necessary, or a reverse osmosis filter.

Cosmetics – an acne patient should always opt for natural personal care products. Aluminium can rear its ugly head anywhere, whether as aluminium oxyhydroxide in toothpaste or other forms in sunscreen and makeup. Check the ingredients list!

Cookware – avoiding aluminium foil, pots, pans and trays is a must for acne-free skin. The quantity absorbed depends on the food, but acidic foods such as oranges and tomatoes and also leafy green vegetables tend to absorb gigantic quantities. One study concluded that “eating meals prepared in aluminium foil may carry a health risk by adding to other aluminium sources“, while a 2006 study concluded that cooking meat in aluminium foil increased levels massively. Red meat aluminium rose by 89 to 378% and poultry from by 76 to 214%.

Eating foil-wrapped chicken won’t transform you into an aluminium-ridden acne zombie instantly, but daily consumption over many years certainly will.

Best (worst) of the rest – other items which frequently contain aluminium include baking powder, cheap table salt, baby formula, coffee creamers, many baked goods, processed foods, magnesium stearate in vitamin supplements, food colourings, caking agents, and self-rising flour.

Aside from other cooking equipment, cans and water bottles may also contain aluminium.

 

How to boost your acne defences

Now it’s time to go one better – here’s how to strengthen your body against aluminium: 

Avoid fluoride – sodium fluoride, an acne-causing nightmare itself, alters the molecular structure of aluminium and makes it more absorbable, according to this study. The main sources to avoid are toothpaste, mouthwash, and drinking water.

Increase your glutathione production – there’s too many strategies to list here, so check out the full article for the master blueprint. The basics are to 1) acquire the three glutathione boosting minerals, zinc, selenium and magnesium, 2) eat enough dietary sulphur, perhaps from broccoli or onions, and 3) secure the 3 amino acids which glutathione production requires, which are cysteine, glycine and l-glutamine.

Eat a variety of antioxidants – antioxidants are great for relieving the pressure on glutathione, allowing it to focus more on aluminium, but many antioxidants have bonus powers related to heavy metals. For example, both curcumin from turmeric and quercetin (onions, sweet potatoes) can specifically protect against aluminium-induced neurotoxicity in rat brains. Among the thousands of antioxidants in nature, there’s almost certainly that have similar powers, so eat a wide variety. The side effects of fruit and vegetables are known to include clear skin.

Do some intermittent fasting – detox is an overused buzzword nowadays, whether it’s fancy detox kits or juice cleanses. One actual strategy, however, is intermittent fasting, when you go for long portions of the day without eating. For example, you could eat two large meals eight hours apart, and starve for the remaining 16 hours of the day.

When your body endures roughly twelve hours without calories, it enters a state of autophagy, a heightened state of mega detoxification. Most of us these days eat constantly, like grazing cows in a field rather than a lion, meaning that we never enter this autophagy, but it’s a great way to supercharge your aluminium removal systems.

Drink some silica water – in the study above, mineral water loaded with silica reduced blood aluminium by a massive 50, 60 and 70%. Many mineral water brands are rich in silica, but the ultimate is Fiji water, sourced from the blackened volcanic slopes of the Pacific. Fiji bottles are also 100% free from BPA, a common cause of acne in plastic bottled water.

Other mineral water brands with plentiful silica include Spritzer and Volvic. You’ll also gain the automatic benefit of dodging aluminium-filled tap water.

Get more magnesium – when your body is deficient in vital minerals, it absorbs toxic heavy metals into the minerals’ receptors instead. Manganese is replaced with nickel, zinc is replaced with cadmium, and magnesium is replaced with aluminium. So get more magnesium and the villainous aluminium will remain in the bloodstream where detoxification is easier. My recommended brand is this Pure Encapsulations Magnesium Glycinate.

 

Conclusion – aluminum is likely contributing to your acne

Avoid aluminium and you’ll automatically avoid acne too.

To recap, aluminium is an antioxidant-reducing mastermind and has a secret double life as an inflammation instigator. Meanwhile, if you’re worried about dementia or the slightest cognitive decline, this is an acne strategy which you cannot skip.

What’s interesting is that very few acne patients take action against environmental contaminants full-stop. They mistaken believe that they’ve reached the limit of clear skin by eating fruits and vegetables and acquiring acne vitamins, but the epidemic of toxins today means that there’s far greater room for improvement than many teenagers realise.

The same applies to you, whether it’s for acne or muscle mass.

NEXT: the ultimate diet for clearing acne permanently

 

 

Thanks for reading!