So, does anyone have any current information about the links between aluminum and
alzheimers desease, or any other health risks. I remember reading some time back about pots & pans possibly being a problem or anti-perspirants containing aluminum (as most do) but has it yet been proven? Does anodizing aluminum whistles change anything healthwise? Does it change the sound of the whistle? If the whistle just rests gently on the lips, I have a hard time understanding why it would be a health issue for whistlers.
Now, if the player was to constantly slurp the contents/condensation, then maybe that would not be good! Comments??
we had a big pro-con post about this recently..I did some research and found that in order for there to be a large health risk (based upon what we currently know to be toxic levels of aluminum salts in the blood), you’d have to eat the equivalant of about an aluminum can a day to be at risk. That said, I’m not a doctor, and I’m sure we don’t know everything there is to know about everything, so follow your own feelings. Considering that I drink soda from aluminum cans (high acid content) and cook in aluminum pots (high heat) I’d be a lot more worried about getting aluminum from those sources than my relatively inert whistle. And, since I’m not worried about those sources, i’m not worried at all about my whistle.
Here’s the text of my original post, edited slighty to fix a math error I had at the time:
Most of the following information is excerpted from the World Health Organization website on aluminum: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/GDWQ/Chemicals/aluminfull.html. If I get any information from another source, I will note it. If you're one of those fringe folks who think WHO is secretly a bio-warfare arm of the one-world-government, feel free to put on your tinfoil hat so the voices stop telling you to read my messages. :slight_smile: Some of the information in this message has been already posted by other posters, but I will include it for the sake of completeness. I personally take the stance that there is no harm in playing an aluminum-based whistle. Here's why: Aluminum is the world's most abundant metallic element, and is the 3rd most abundant element, period. It's about 8% of the world's crust. Aluminum salts are used in water treatment. It's used in the construction, automotive and airplane industries. They use it for pots and pans and other cooking utensils, and for food packaging. It's a primary ingredient in antacids (Tums has it, I'm pretty sure), and antipersperants (including my favorite). You can find it in the air you breathe (up to more than 1 µg/m3), in natural waters, treated drinking water, and food (primiarily from "food additives"). The dietary intake of aluminum in the USA is about 8mg a day. Stevie makes note of a possible connection between Alzheimers patients and aluminum. After numerous studies, WHO concluded "that the present epidemiological evidence does not support a causal association between AD and aluminium in drinking-water." That doesn't rule it out, of course, but I'd bet you get much more aluminum from drinking a year's worth of water than you would by playing an aluminum whistle for your entire life. This is considering that you can have up to 2.7mg/liter of drinking water, depending on how they treat the water. You're supposed to drink 8-12 cups of water a day. At the minimum, that's about 2 litres a day, or about 2g of aluminum a year. Shave off that much aluminum off of your whistle, and when you see how much it is, try and determine whether you'll gnaw that much off your whistle in your life. I'd bet not. Now, I'm an avowed whistle gnawer, but I doubt that I'll ever gnaw an ounce of aluminum off my Cheiftains...and they're an alloy, so I'd have to gnaw even more than than to get the same amount of raw aluminum in my sytem (provided that my body even absorbs it if I do!). If you still fear aluminum and Alzheimers, I also invite you to check out this link, which also seems to support WHO's position: http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/2455/alzheim.html Studies have not indicated that aluminum is carcinogenic. As for it's dementia-causing effects, I found a reference to a case in Camemford, England, where residents were exposed to high-levels of aluminum in their water when a truck driver dumped aluminium sulfate into the water by mistake. (http://www.nutramed.com/brain/dementia.htm).Residents suffered symptoms that "fit the general pattern of food allergy". The site DOES mention that direct aluminum injections into animal brains causes some brain-related problems (color me surprised!), but I don't think I'm going to be around much longer if someone injects my Chieftain into my grey matter. Back to the WHO site, they talk about how much aluminum INGESTED (as opposed to injected) it takes to affect behavior. They state that animals started having behavioral impairment at the 200mg per kg of bodyweight per DAY intake level. So, taking 100kg as a nice round number to use, a man that size would have to ingest 20g (almost an ounce) of raw aluminum PER DAY. What's the average dietary intake again? 8mg a day? I don't worry about the molecules that may spontaneously fly off a whistle. :slight_smile: While the WHO does admit that using aluminum cookware and packaging can increase the amount of aluminum in food, "the magnitude of this increase is generally not of practical importance". It's a safe bet that you'd get more aluminum in your system from an aluminum cooking pot or from a soda can than from a whistle. If the amount from those sources is so small as to be "not of practical importance", I fear not my aluminum Chieftain. Greg \ \ [ This Message was edited by: Wandering_whistler on 2001-11-12 11:30 ]
I believe the risk is infinitesimal (it may impair speling skils I’ve heard). Like Greg posted, our exposure to other sources of aluminum are far greater compared to whistle exposure. More information is coming out on Alzheimer’s and genetics is certainly a part of it. Some chemical preventatives are looking promising as prophylaxis or treatment. That’s down the road at this point, but maybe not far. There are far greater risks to our health and they are manageable: don’t smoke, wear a seatbelt, get regular aerobic exercize, watch your diet. Boring, but important. (Just to put things in perspective.) And there’s evidence that doing things that involve thinking, like whistle playing, may help reduce the severity of dementia in old age.
Tony
I’ve heard that people who take
anti inflammatories regularly, e.g.
aspirin and Ibuprofen, have much
lower rates of alzheimers. But i’ve
just heard it–anybody know if
there’s corroborating evidence?
If so, it’s worth taking a daily
aspirin or whatever, especially
as there are other benefits e.g.
lower rate of heart attacks.
My Mom has something with the same symptoms as Alzhiemers called Vascular Dymentia. It is caused by the capillaries in the brain having small strokes. Over time it degenerates the brain in the same manner as the plaques in Az.
My doctor suggested taking a single aspirin every day. Not the substitues, but the plain old fashioned aspirins you can buy as generics…large bottle, relatively cheap. I also take Vitamin E, Multi-oil and Selenium everyday for the same reason. After seeing what it did to my Mom, I want to postpone it as much as possible.
Exercising your mind is just as important, so I’m learning the tinwhistle, studying French and taking fencing lessons. After the tinwhistle I plan to learn the Uillean pipes…after French, I’m considering Gaelic.
Regards,
Gary
On 2001-11-10 21:01, jim stone wrote:
I’ve heard that people who take
anti inflammatories regularly, e.g.
aspirin and Ibuprofen, have much
lower rates of alzheimers. But i’ve
just heard it–anybody know if
there’s corroborating evidence?
If so, it’s worth taking a daily
aspirin or whatever, especially
as there are other benefits e.g.
lower rate of heart attacks.
I recently read that very high doses of these antiinflammatories do have a protective effect. However, they don’t believe it’s the antiinflammatory properties that produce the effect and the dosage necessary would be toxic to the liver and kidneys. They’re working on another drug that utilizes the protective effect without the antiinflammatory ingredients. (That’s what I was referring to in my earlier post.)
Tony
Thanks Greg, Tony and all,
I must have missed this thread when my computer went down awhile ago. I appreciate you repeating it for me. With the recent post about whistlers avoiding alluminum whistles for health reasons, I was just wondering if new info had come to light…thank goodness it hasn’t!!
On 2001-11-10 21:01, jim stone wrote:
I’ve heard that people who take
anti inflammatories regularly, e.g.
aspirin and Ibuprofen, have much
lower rates of alzheimers. But i’ve
just heard it–anybody know if
there’s corroborating evidence?
If so, it’s worth taking a daily
aspirin or whatever, especially
as there are other benefits e.g.
lower rate of heart attacks.
I really would not recommend you taking Ibuprofen on a daily basis. I’d actually only take it if it was absolutely necessary. It maybe a wonderful painkiller (and the only one that still works for my migraines) but it’s also a lot more chemical than your average normal aspirin. They don’t advise you to limit to 1200 mg per 24 hours for nothing. I’d keep it to a 0 mg unless you really need it.
About the Alzheimers I wouldn’t know, I’ve taken a lot of aspirins and ibuprofens over the last 8 years or so and my memory is terrible 
Just in case anyone is obsessive about this subject, here is the link to the article about antiinflammatories and Alzheimer’s:
Simple solution: you can get a clear plastic lacquer coating to put around the end of the fipple, and your problem’s solved. You paint it on like nail varnish.