Background: epidemiological studies of Alzheimer's disease and aluminium in
take have focused on aluminium in drinking water. There have been no studie
s investigating the relation between the disease and the consumption of foo
ds containing large amounts of aluminium additives.
Objectives: to conduct a pilot study to determine whether dietary intake of
aluminium additives differs in individuals with and without Alzheimer's di
sease.
Design: matched case-control study. Controls were matched to cases on age,
gender and date of admission to the centre.
Setting: Syracuse, New York, USA.
Subjects: 46 participants comprising 23 matched sets.
Methods: residents of the Loretto Geriatric Center with and without newly-d
iagnosed Alzheimer's disease were selected. Next-of-kin were asked to compl
ete information on the resident's medical history, lifestyle behaviour and
dietary intake before admission to the centre. An expanded form of the Heal
th Habits and History Questionnaire was used to determine dietary intake. C
onsumption of foods containing elevated levels of aluminium additives was c
ompared between cases and controls.
Results: the crude odds ratio for daily intake of foods containing high lev
els of aluminium was 2.0 and, when adjusted for covariates, was 8.6 (P = 0.
19). Intake of pancakes, waffles, biscuits, muffins, cornbread and/or corn
tortillas differed significantly (P = 0.025) between cases and controls. Ad
justed odds ratios were also elevated for grain product desserts, American
cheese, chocolate pudding or beverages, salt and chewing gum. However, the
odds ratio was not elevated for tea consumption.
Conclusion: past consumption of foods containing large amounts of aluminium
additives differed between people with Alzheimer's disease and controls, s
uggesting that dietary intake of aluminium may affect the risk of developin
g this disease. Larger studies are warranted to corroborate or refute these
preliminary findings.