Safety Evaluation of Dietary Aluminum

Aluminum is a nonessential metal to which humans are frequently exposed. Aluminum in the food supply comes from natural sources, water used in food preparation, food ingredients, and utensils used during food preparations. The amount of aluminum in the diet is small, compared with the amount of aluminum in antacids and some buffered analgesics. The healthy human body has effective barriers (skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract) to reduce the systemic absorption of aluminum ingested from water, foods, drugs, and air. The small amount of aluminum (