Aluminum (Al) is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust and is used for a wide variety of applications. Unlike most other metals, aluminum is soft enough to be machined and shaped into complex structures and it has an excellent tensile strength. When combined with other metals, it can produce aluminum alloys that have superior strength, hardness, stiffness, creep resistance, and corrosion resistance. In addition, aluminum alloys are very good electrical and thermal conductors.
Inorganic aluminum salts are very common in the natural environment. They are found in many types of mineral deposits and they are also present in the human body in small amounts. However, no living organism uses these salts for metabolism and they are well tolerated by plants and animals.
The toxicity of the inorganic aluminum is linked to several diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (Mold et al. 2019a). The concentration of aluminum in the brain tissues is very high in AD patients and is associated with neurodegeneration and cognitive disorders. The high exposure to aluminum can be due to various sources such as toothpaste, vaccination, antiperspirants and some drugs (Crisponi et al. 2013). It has been reported that infants are at a high risk of being overexposed to aluminum because of the presence of aluminum-containing additives in milk formulas and vaccination. The overexposure can be especially dangerous because aluminum passes through the placenta and accumulates in the fetal tissue (Freundlich et al. 1985). The aluminum concentration in the brain tissue of infants with renal failure is very high and they have high chances to die from the accumulated aluminum in their bodies (Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 2017). Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to reduce the exposure of infants to toxic aluminum.