Aluminium has been linked to falling sperm count. Aluminium is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal. Aluminum is the third most abundant element and the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust.
What is aluminium used for?
- Aluminium is used a lot to make drink cans
- Aluminuim is rolled into very thin sheets, called foil or foil paper used to make takeaway containers or foil containers
- Aluminium is used to make milk bottle tops, chocolate wrapping, and lids for dairy products.
- Aluminium is used in many homes as foil paper for cooking and wrapping up food.
Aluminum has a huge number of uses. These range from all sorts of packaging and is widely used in industry and commerce.
Aluminium is still used excessively in the food packaging industry despite recent health worries. Exposure to aluminium could be responsible for lowered sperm counts.
For several decades there has been a decline in male fertility, one of the factors is thought to be linked to our growing exposure to aluminium.
Those that work in aluminium production industry, users of aluminium, and aluminium welders, experience considerable exposures to the metal and its compounds.
You can be exposed to aluminium when you come in contact with it, either by breathing, eating, or drinking the substance, or even by skin contact.
New research from the scientist in the UK and France suggests that Human exposure to aluminum may be a significant factor in falling sperm counts and reduced male fertility.
Fluorescence microscopy using an aluminum-specific stain confirmed the presence of aluminum in semen and showed aluminum inside individual sperm.
And the team of scientists, at the universities of Lyon and Saint-Etienne in France and Keele in the UK, found that the higher the aluminum, the lower the sperm count.
Aluminium is also a common ingredient found in deodorant. Antiperspirant contains aluminum salts that work to stop complete perspiration from occurring so you do not sweat while you rub it underarm. Most commercial brands of deodorant contain a variety of harsh chemicals that are detrimental to your health and one of them is aluminium, which can be toxic and is potentially quite dangerous to your health. Previous studies have also linked aluminium to breast cancer.
How to limit your exposure to aluminium
You can limit your exposure to aluminium by doing the following:
- Use more natural cosmetics and deodorants and read labels.
- Avoid processed foods which may have aluminium additives.
- Avoid cooking acidic food in aluminium pans.
- Don’t store leftovers in aluminum, because the longer the food sits, the more aluminum it can absorb from the pan
- Discard your aging aluminum cookware as more aluminum will dissolve out of old, scarred and worn pans
- Choose anodized aluminum cookware to reduce the amount of aluminum that dissolves into food. A better choice will be cast-iron cookware as an alternative to
aluminium cookware. - Avoid
aluminium cans (used in soft drinks and other canned drinks)
Some antacids (used for indigestion and heartburn) containaluminium as do some buffered aspirins, be aware and go for an alternative such as peppermint essential oil, essential plant oil that works.
Go toxin-free, use essential oils as your deodorant with an added benefit of enhancing your health.
Dr. Benney is a fertility blogger, she loves writing and has been writing fertility articles since 2014.
She advocates for natural fertility and supports men and women through their fertility journey. She consults for FERTIL-24 Herbals, a fertility and wellness center in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Benney loves God and nature.
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