Detailed article on sources of aluminium and toxicity.

Human exposure to aluminium

Christopher Exley 
The Birchall Centre, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK. E-mail: c.exley@keele.ac.uk; Fax: +44 (0)1782 712378; Tel: +44 (0)1782 734080
Received 15th July 2013 , Accepted 19th August 2013
First published on 19th August 2013
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2013/em/c3em00374d

Human activities have circumvented the efficient geochemical cycling of aluminium within the lithosphere and therewith opened a door, which was previously only ajar, onto the biotic cycle to instigate and promote the accumulation of aluminium in biota and especially humans. Neither these relatively recent activities nor the entry of aluminium into the living cycle are showing any signs of abating and it is thus now imperative that we understand as fully as possible how humans are exposed to aluminium and the future consequences of a burgeoning exposure and body burden. The aluminium age is upon us and there is now an urgent need to understand how to live safely and effectively with aluminium.


Environmental impact

The aim of this critical review of human exposure to aluminium is to provide an holistic interpretation of aluminium's exposome in relation to humans. It should enable a change in our thinking about the myriad ways that humans are exposed to aluminium and importantly it provides a much more complete definition of the body burden of aluminium. The latter must now be the starting place for furthering our understanding of how this burden impacts upon human physiology and potentially its role in human disease.