Worry about tin foil

[Timothy]

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.

 

[Andy M.]

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.

 

[Timothy]

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?"

 

[Andy M.]

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.

 

[Addie]

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.

 

[CWS4322]

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.

 

[Kayelle]

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.

 

[Andy M.]

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.

 

[Oldvine]

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.

 

[Andy M.]

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.

 

[GLC]

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.

 

[Addie]

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.

 

[PattY1]

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.

 

[GLC]

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.)

 

[Timothy]

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?

 

[Timothy]

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.

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

 

[GLC]

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.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

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.

 

[roadfix]

It'll pass right through you.

 

[Janet H]

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