Ingestion and excretion of aluminum in foods and pharmaceuticals

Abstract

We measured the aluminum contents in foods and pharmaceuticals, and the aluminum concentrations in urine by atomic absorption spectrophotometry with polarized Zeeman background correction to obtain the daily intake and excretion of aluminum. The daily urinary excretions of aluminum in healthy females were obtained after consuming sea algae, hizikia fusiforme, which has a high aluminum contents. Daily aluminum excretion did not increase after taking hizikia fusiforme. On the other hand, high aluminum excretions were observed after taking an analgesic/antipyretic with a high aluminum contents, compared with the usual daily aluminum excretion (p<0.001), and compared with after taking an analgesic/ antipyretic with no aluminum (p<0.0001). We found that the daily urinary excretion of aluminum was not related to the total consumption of aluminum, but depended on the binding state of aluminum consumed.