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Evaluation of human exposure to aluminum from food and food contact materials

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Abstract

Aluminum constitutes the third most common element in the earth’s crust. In spite of this there is no evidence that it is essential for any living organism. It has been shown that uptake of aluminum in large amounts can have detrimental effects on the nervous system, bones and the hemopoietic system. Aluminum exposure in humans is generally the result of ingestion of foods that naturally contain aluminum, those treated with approved food additives and the result of migration from utensils and packaging. The tolerable uptake as derived by the European Food Safety Authority is 1 mg aluminum/kg body weight/week for all groups. Regional differences contribute to a large variation in worldwide uptake of aluminum. Evaluation of the results of various studies shows that individual dietary exposure to aluminum can vary greatly. For adults the average exposure amounted to 0.2–1.5 mg/kg body weight and week. As a result of their lower body weight, the maximum exposure for children and young people was found to be between 0.7 and 2.3 mg/kg body weight and week. This represents values between 14 and 105 mg aluminum/week for a 70 kg adult, and from 21 to 69 mg/week for a 30 kg child. These estimates show that for part of the human population enough aluminum can be taken up through diet to reach the tolerable weekly intake.

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Notes

  1. In the following the term “aluminum” will be used for the sake of simplicity, although strictly aluminum compounds are meant, in particular regarding foods of animal or plant origin as well as food additives.

  2. Snack bars, inns and restaurants do partially list food additives that have been used. The additive is either listed by name or by E-number.

  3. In cases in which pharmaceuticals containing aluminum are ingested or cosmetics containing aluminum are used this sum is increased accordingly.

  4. Table 4: the results shown are for a child weighing 30 kg and an adult weighing 70 kg based on a daily portion of a 10 ml portion of citric acid over a period of 1 week (7 days).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hessian State Laboratory, Am Versuchsfeld 11-13, 34128, Kassel, Germany

    Thorsten Stahl

  2. Hessian State Laboratory, Glarusstr. 6, 65203, Wiesbaden, Germany

    Sandy Falk

  3. Hessian State Laboratory, Schubertstr. 60, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Hasan Taschan & Hubertus Brunn

  4. Institute of Medical Virology, Justus Liebig University, Schubertstraße 81, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Bruce Boschek

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  1. Thorsten Stahl
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  2. Sandy Falk
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  3. Hasan Taschan
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  5. Hubertus Brunn
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Correspondence to Thorsten Stahl.

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Stahl, T., Falk, S., Taschan, H. et al. Evaluation of human exposure to aluminum from food and food contact materials. Eur Food Res Technol 244, 2077–2084 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-018-3124-2

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