# Worry about tin foil



## kenny1999 (Jan 19, 2012)

i don't know if i am too careful or hypertensive.

yesterday when i finish preparing my spaghetti and wrap it with tin foil. Before putting the dish into the oven,  i use a knife to cut some of the wrapped tin foil to let water vapour go out so that the spaghetti would not be too watery. However, after i cut the foil, the edge of the foil doesn't look very sharp, but quite rough. At that moment to now on, i worry if any small insignifiant part of the tin would escape into my spaghetti and being eaten. Should i do this "cut" next time.?

Thanks!


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## Robo410 (Jan 19, 2012)

I would not worry about it. Any piece large enough to be a problem will be visible.


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## buckytom (Jan 20, 2012)

kenny, i understand your worry. 

first, tin foil is actually made from aluminium, also known as aluminum.

there are a lot of theories and warnings about the safety of ingesting aluminum. 

i would suggest you research (google) problems with ingesting or cooking with aluminum/aluminium.


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## kenny1999 (Jan 20, 2012)

buckytom said:


> kenny, i understand your worry.
> 
> first, tin foil is actually made from aluminium, also known as aluminum.
> 
> ...



so will it cause a big health problem of ingesting or cooking with aluminium


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## sparrowgrass (Jan 20, 2012)

There was a lot of talk on the internet years ago about aluminum causing Alzheimers.  That 'theory' has been debunked.  *Except* on some internet sites that don't use science, the same sites that quote the 'study' that claimed that vaccinations cause autism.

You can find backup for any wack-job theory you want--so, research carefully, go to sites like the Mayo Clinic or university web sites for information that actually has science behind it.


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## Addie (Jan 20, 2012)

Gee, I have been cooking with amum. cookware for more than 50 years and I am still here.


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## lyndalou (Jan 20, 2012)

Kenny,

My take on your question is that you put the spaghetti into a dish and covered it with aluminum, then cut slits in the covering to let steam escape. Is that right?

If so, the very small amount of aluminum that may be in the dish is not going to do any harm. You should be able to just fish it out of there.


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## Andy M. (Jan 20, 2012)

I've never seen foil in food as a result of poking vent holes in a foil covered dish with a knife.  The foil simply separates.  From what you said in your post, this didnt happen but you are concerned it might.  I think you can relax and not worry about it.

As others have said, if it's enough to be visible, you can pick it out, if it's so small you can't see it, it's not an issue.


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## bakechef (Jan 20, 2012)

Addie said:


> Gee, I have been cooking with amum. cookware for more than 50 years and I am still here.



That explains soooo much.....


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## Katie H (Jan 20, 2012)

I wouldn't be concerned either, but you can do what I do when I cover my tomato-based dishes with foil.  First place a layer (barrier, if you will) of parchment paper between the food and the foil.  If you want to cut a vent slit into the foil, the parchment can also be easily slit, too.


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## lyndalou (Jan 20, 2012)

Yes, Katie, that's a good idea. Didn't think of that.
Thanks.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jan 20, 2012)

Addie said:


> Gee, I have been cooking with amum. cookware for more than 50 years and I am still here.



Hello, my name is PF, pleased to meet you...


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## Addie (Jan 20, 2012)

bakechef said:


> That explains soooo much.....


 
 Good one bakerchef.


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## Addie (Jan 20, 2012)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Hello, my name is PF, pleased to meet you...


 
What gave me away? Was it that aluminum antenna coming out of the back of my head?


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## GLC (Jan 20, 2012)

Hadn't ever looked into how aluminum foil is made. Quite an array of problems that had to be solved, including the use of a positron emitter and sensor to continuously measure the thickness and adjust the rollers. And why there'a a shiny side and a matte side. (Can't roll thin enough to do the final thickness, so it goes through in two sheets.)  

I also didn't know that, due to small holes created in manufacturing, aluminum foil has to be more than 1 mil (1/1000 inch) thick before it's impermeable to air and water vapor. Common Reynolds Wrap is barely more than 0.5 mil, and the heavy duty is just under 1 mil, and extra heavy duty is about 1.3 mil and the clear choice for freezing. 

And a new use to me, polishing steel with wet aluminum foil.

(I already knew about using it to make a hat to keep the aliens out of your brain.)

(I don't wear one. I figure if the aliens are foolish enough to look inside mine, it's their own dang fault if they're psychologically scarred for life.)


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jan 20, 2012)

Addie said:


> What gave me away? Was it that aluminum antenna coming out of the back of my head?



I'm sorry, do I know you?


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## taxlady (Jan 20, 2012)

lyndalou said:


> Yes, Katie, that's a good idea. Didn't think of that.
> Thanks.



I use wax paper. It's a fair bit cheaper than parchment.


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## bakechef (Jan 20, 2012)

I've tried parchment, but it isn't nearly as effective for hats....


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## CWS4322 (Jan 20, 2012)

Katie H said:


> I wouldn't be concerned either, but you can do what I do when I cover my tomato-based dishes with foil.  First place a layer (barrier, if you will) of parchment paper between the food and the foil.  If you want to cut a vent slit into the foil, the parchment can also be easily slit, too.


I left instructions for cooking the cabbage roll meatloaf yesterday that included covering the meatloaf with foil...the DH left out that step. Next time, I'll include parchment paper. He is in the camp of "don't use foil" because it is aluminum is bad for you...no matter how many times I share information, he's convinced his grandma's Alzheimer's was because she cooked in alum. pans. And, he has an advanced degree in materials. But this myth is one that I have not been able to debunk. I guess his emotions get in the way...


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## Timothy (Jan 20, 2012)

sparrowgrass said:


> There was a lot of talk on the internet years ago about aluminum causing Alzheimers. That 'theory' has been debunked. *Except* on some internet sites that don't use science, the same sites that quote the 'study' that claimed that vaccinations cause autism.
> 
> You can find backup for any wack-job theory you want--so, research carefully, go to sites like the Mayo Clinic or university web sites for information that actually has science behind it.


 
This is a pretty good article on the Aluminum/Alzheimers theory:

Heavy Metal? |EMagazine.com


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## Timothy (Jan 20, 2012)

I have my own theory about what triggers most of the more serious diseases known to mankind:

Stress.

I'm serious. I think people with high stress are more likely to develop serious diseases than anyone who lives a life with little stress.

Like cancer, I believe that most of us has many diseases already inside us, dormant, but alive. Then something "triggers" the diseases to become active. I believe that "something" is stress.

Fill your life with stress, worry and turmoil and I believe you'll be another victim of one of the more common of life-threatening diseases.

Live a life that is as free of worry, stress and turmoil, using whatever method allows you to live in that manner, and I believe that you will live to be a very old person of 100+. If a truck doesn't run you over...etc.

Just my opinion though.


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## Andy M. (Jan 20, 2012)

Timothy said:


> This is a pretty good article on the Aluminum/Alzheimers theory:
> 
> Heavy Metal? |EMagazine.com




My Oh My, lots of speculation in that article.  I'll go with the Mayo Clinic and the Alzheimer's Association who say there's no connection.


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## Timothy (Jan 20, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> My Oh My, lots of speculation in that article. I'll go with the Mayo Clinic and the Alzheimer's Association who say there's no connection.


 
Not that I promote the theory, but "No proven connection" and No connection" are not really the same thing.

I'll stay with the person who said "Why not minimize the aluminum in your life, just in case?"


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## Andy M. (Jan 20, 2012)

Timothy said:


> Not that I promote the theory, but "No proven connection" and No connection" are not really the same thing.
> 
> I'll stay with the person who said "Why not minimize the aluminum in your life, just in case?"



I may be off base, but statements such as, "No proven connection" are a way to suggest that there really is a connection but I can't say so (wink, wink).  It plants the seed of doubt causing many folks to, "...minimize the aluminum in your life, just in case."

I see it as a way for people with an agenda to plant the seeds of doubt, causing consumers to avoid an item "just to be on the safe side".

For example, "Although there is no proven connection, older men who live in St. Augustine and eat hydroponically grown vegetables show a higher incidence of Alzheimer's Disease than the general population." 

It can't be proven and it can't be disproved.


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## Addie (Jan 20, 2012)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I'm sorry, do I know you?


 
Bleep, bleepity, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep bleep bleepity ! 

Translation - Hello Dr. Smith. (Lost in Space) Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly.


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## CWS4322 (Jan 20, 2012)

My personal theory is that because of medical advances, people are treated and cured of things that would've been deadly 50-100 years ago. Therefore, we see higher incidents of cancer and other "geriatric" diseases. My mother would not have had a valve replacement 50 years ago. She would not have lived long enough to suffer from dementia. However, because a valve replacement was an option in 1997, now she suffers from dementia (the two are not necessarily related-but her chances of living long enough for her to develop dementia would have been diminished without the valve replacement). The valve replacement bought her, and her family, 8-10 more years of quality time. We are all paying the price for that now. My DH's grandmother suffered a heart attack--a bypass was done, she lived long enough to develop Alzheimer's. Had she not had the bypass, she would most likely not have lived long enough to develop Alzheimer's.


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## Kayelle (Jan 20, 2012)

Katie H said:


> I wouldn't be concerned either, but you can do what I do when I cover my tomato-based dishes with foil.  First place a layer (barrier, if you will) of parchment paper between the food and the foil.  If you want to cut a vent slit into the foil, the parchment can also be easily slit, too.



I like to use a barrier of parchment paper also...especially when storing a tomato based dish in the refrigerator.  I've seen tomato sauce eat right through foil where the sauce has been in contact with it.


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## Andy M. (Jan 20, 2012)

The same is true of high cholesterol levels' causing problems for us as we age.  Cholesterol is a necessary component of our make up.  However, it never was an issue when we were dieing off in our 40s and 50s.  Now it's another story.


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## Oldvine (Jan 20, 2012)

It probably was aluminum foil that you used to cover the spaghetti.  I've been covering food, rolling food up in, baking on top of... aluminum foil for more than 55 years, feeding that food to the same man, aged 77, who still operates our ranch and does volunteer work, 8 hours a day, three days a week.  Maybe it's the aluminum foil leakage that's working for him.  
I would not worry about that in my kitchen.


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## Andy M. (Jan 20, 2012)

Kayelle said:


> I like to use a barrier of parchment paper also...especially when storing a tomato based dish in the refrigerator.  I've seen tomato sauce eat right through foil where the sauce has been in contact with it.



If you put foil on pan made from a different metal (such as stainless), and there is an acidic food in the pan, the acid works with the two different metals to make a weak battery and the chemical changes include eroding the foil.  A layer of plastic wrap, parchment or waxed paper that keeps the foil from directly contacting  the stainless will stop the process.

Of course, if put foil on a non-metallic container, it's not a problem.


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## GLC (Jan 20, 2012)

We do know for sure that stress affects the immune system. A lot of disease becomes illness when the exposure outweighs the system's ability to deal with it. I suspect there may well be something to stress and organic senile dementias like Alzheimer's. Sure, you have to live long enough to get it, and that no doubt accounts for cases. But a lot of neurological diseases get their starts from viruses very early and don't become symptomatic until much later. So stress (the bad kind - there is good stress) may be the factor that lets it get a foothold. And it's one thing that we know both is bad for you and that we can do something about, with the bonus that there's no downside - if it was no medical benefit at all, you'd still be happier. Which is good, because it won't necessarily prevent what you hope it will prevent. That reporter on Nightline just discovered during the "pretend" screening that his arteries were calcifying, and he had the gene that's behind it. So did "the iceman," the ancient guy that emerged from the Swiss glacier, a guy who got loads of exercise and ate whole grains, etc. (Don't know about stress. He was murdered, after all.)  But he had the calcifying arteries and the gene to go with it.

People want real bad to know what's behind Alzheimer's, because it scares the heck out of them. But it's even possible we might never know. It might fade away one day, as other diseases have, before we could find the cause. It would be nice to think it was aluminum exposure, because we could do something about that. But it wasn't aluminum exposure back to the 1880's when there are classic described cases, well before Alzheimer made his name. Metallic aluminum then was more prized than gold. All of the studies that tried to find a cause found nothing or weak results. So if I have to pick among weak studies, I'll take the one that associated drinking red wine with a reduced incidence of Alzheimer's.


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## Addie (Jan 20, 2012)

Well, I like the study that found a lot of folks who were heavy drinkers or alcoholics, had most of their brain wasted away. And since I don't drink, I will assume I am safe. And to date I have shown no signs of dementia. Though there are those who would question that statement.

Now if I could just find a study that states that having heart disease is beneficial to a long life, then I would be happy.


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## PattY1 (Jan 20, 2012)

Katie H said:


> I wouldn't be concerned either, but you can do what I do when I cover my tomato-based dishes with foil.  First place a layer (barrier, if you will) of parchment paper between the food and the foil.  If you want to cut a vent slit into the foil, the parchment can also be easily slit, too.




That's a good idea because the acid in the tomatoes will "eat" the foil.


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## GLC (Jan 20, 2012)

Addie said:


> Now if I could just find a study that states that having heart disease is beneficial to a long life, then I would be happy.



Studies agree - it will cause you to live for your entirrrrre life. 

(Longer if you're on Facebook.)


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## Timothy (Jan 20, 2012)

GLC said:


> So stress (the bad kind - there is good stress)


 
That was a very interesting post, GLC. I've not heard of "Good Stress". What are some examples of it?


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## Timothy (Jan 20, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> I may be off base, but statements such as, "No proven connection" are a way to suggest that there really is a connection but I can't say so (wink, wink). It plants the seed of doubt causing many folks to, "...minimize the aluminum in your life, just in case."
> 
> I see it as a way for people with an agenda to plant the seeds of doubt, causing consumers to avoid an item "just to be on the safe side".
> 
> ...


 
Who you callin an older man? Ha! I get your point Andy. Yer killin me!


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## GLC (Jan 20, 2012)

Timothy said:


> That was a very interesting post, GLC. I've not heard of "Good Stress". What are some examples of it?



I don't know how much this qualifies as all that "good" for you or if it's more a contrast with bad chronic stress. But the reference is to the kind of short burst thrill associated with good things, overcoming a challenge, sex, love, roller coaster, etc., things that end in positive feelings. I guess it might be said to be the kind of stress no one would try to drink away. The term is "eustress," as opposed to "distress." It is said to stimulate systems, heart, immune, etc. I think what they're really saying is that there's a positive side of stress and that it's not helpful to try to eliminate all stress from your life. 

On the other hand, that kind of stress can get out of hand, and if it keeps pounding away at you, in a way you can't adapt to or resolve, it triggers all the bad responses.

I don't think it's real profound. We do seem to be programmed to seek out that kind of good stress, like the thrill ride.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jan 20, 2012)

I scoff at the idea that aluminum foil is any particular health risk, except like always the basic rule is that aluminum should not contact acidic food. There are plenty of reasons why plastic wrap is better than aluminum foil anyway, primarily because it is cheaper. I'm sure a case could be made that plastic wrap could be a health risk too. In the mean time I'll use plastic wrap unless aluminum's primary benefit--heat resistance--makes it a better choice over plastic.

But if anybody believes aluminum foil is a risk then don't use it.


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## roadfix (Jan 20, 2012)

It'll pass right through you.


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## Janet H (Jan 20, 2012)

And now for a diversion: Tin foil has lots of other great uses... 

The Tinfoil Hat Song

For lessons on how to make a tin foil hat Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie


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## Whiskadoodle (Jan 20, 2012)

Janet H said:


> And now for a diversion: Tin foil has lots of other great uses...
> 
> The Tinfoil Hat Song
> 
> For lessons on how to make a tin foil hat Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie


 

Zapsolutely!!  The Foil Deflector Beanie can help the average human.  AND Goodness Knows, it's why the Gourmet Restaurant Association (GRA) recommends wrapping bake potatoes in tinfoil before microwaving them as witnessed at the finest dining establishments everywhere.  Accept no 
substitutes.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jan 20, 2012)

Wrapping potatoes in foil is the exact opposite of what those (like me) who like glorious crispy thick potato skins on their baked potatoes. I often scoop out the potato mash in the middle and put it in my refuse plate to be taken away, then fill the skin with sour cream and chives.

Just don't think that every person on the planet wants some carbohydrate dream and throw away the skin. I'll admit I'm probably a 1 in 20 exception, a person who would rather eat the skin than the inside of a potato.


Oh just to add I understood the sarcasm about wrapping potatoes in aluminum foil and then microwaving them. Exactly what the oven manufacturers warn against.


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## Addie (Jan 20, 2012)

Gourmet Greg said:


> Wrapping potatoes in foil is the exact opposite of what those (like me) who like glorious crispy thick potato skins on their baked potatoes. I often scoop out the potato mash in the middle and put it in my refuse plate to be taken away, then fill the skin with sour cream and chives.
> 
> Just don't think that every person on the planet wants some carbohydrate dream and throw away the skin. I'll admit I'm probably a 1 in 20 exception, a person who would rather eat the skin than the inside of a potato.
> 
> ...


 
You mean I am not the only one who eats the skin first? Only I like mine dripping in melted butter. Then if I still have room, I will go for the meat (protein) When a restaqurant serves me a potato wrapped in foil, I don't even bother to open it. I did not order a steamed baked potato. And I have been known to send it back to the kitchen and ask if they have any that are not wrapped in foil. And I can tell the difference. The skin is soggy.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jan 20, 2012)

Addie I'm glad to have a meeting of the minds with you. I agree that a foil wrapper turns you baked potato into a steamed potato. I too like you want a nice crispy chewy potato skin, one that you can't get when you wrap it in foil.

It's funny that many restaurants offer potato skins on their appetizer menu, almost as a concession that some people like the skins rather than a steamed mess of useless calories of pure potato insides. This is IMO only one step removed from mainlining sugar.

As I said I often dig out the insides and throw it away. The skins have all the nutrients and vitamins Sadly that's where the pesticides reside too. I'd rather admit it myself than have somebody else bring that up.

In an ideal world I'd have baked potatoes every night, I'd feed the insides to the animals, and I'd eat the skins. In the real world I don't get that very often.


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## Merlot (Jan 20, 2012)

I never bake my potatoes in foil, I like the skin crispy.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jan 20, 2012)

Wow who would have thought I'd encounter potato skin lovers here in this forum? I had always thought it was God given that only I liked potato skins. I thought only I wanted to throw out the "best" part and eat what was left. Too bad you can't grow potatoes with only the outsides...

Talk about Jack sprat and his wife. Maybe there's a woman out there for me who likes the pulpy potato insides... I probably wouldn't like her attitude.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jan 20, 2012)

I used to like the potato skins...


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## GLC (Jan 20, 2012)

It behooves you to use all of the potato you can, because they're like bananas. If you just skin them and bone them, there's nothing left.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jan 20, 2012)

GLC said:


> It behooves you to use all of the potato you can, because they're like bananas. If you just skin them and bone them, there's nothing left.



It's that load of buckshot that always ruins it for me...


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## buckytom (Jan 21, 2012)

thanks for all of the great info, everyone.

i'd remembered that there were some concerns about aluminum, both in cooking and with deodorants, but i was unsure. 

after reading the links provided, both look pretty safe. no old-timers disease from cooking, and no breast cancer from preventing sweaty pits.


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## Bolas De Fraile (Jan 21, 2012)

Janet H said:


> And now for a diversion: Tin foil has lots of other great uses...
> 
> The Tinfoil Hat Song
> 
> For lessons on how to make a tin foil hat Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie


My wife lined my cricket box with Tinfoil because she claims my brain is in my pants


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