Question:
I'm confused about the difference between aluminum that is found incolloidal mineral supplement products, and from other sources reported tobe unsafe/toxic.

For example, I've seen articles and books caution that aluminum cookware isnot such a good idea, and may promote ailments like Alzheimer's disease.The concern is that the aluminum in the cookware is dissolved intosolution, ingested and accumulated by the body where it does harm to thebrain, etc.

How is the aluminum in colloidal mineral supplement products extracted from"prehistoric plants" any different than the aluminum dissolved intosolution from cookware? I read some propoganda saying that since the toxicmetal partical in colloids are of the smallest possible size, it's not anissue. But gee, it seems that the particles dissolved off of cookwarewould be pretty darn small too, right?

The concentration listed for a brochure from one product shows 107,000micrograms (0.107 grams) per liter of solution, or about 1/3 of the amountof calcium per liter for that product. This alarms me, so I'm concernedabout taking any more of it until I hear a believable story w/ evidencesaying it's actually OK.

Can anybody articulate for me what the difference is, and why I should notbe concerned about possibly inducing Alzheimers (which has already happenedin my family tree)????? Where can I go to gather more information?

Answer: It depends on the form of metal, generally. Hexavalent, e.g., mightbe treated as a toxin and trivalent as a nutrient. I would be moreconcerned about the amounts of sodium and chlorine in the typicalcolloidal mineral supplement. These are usually the main ingredientsand most people do not need to supplement them. Also, even ifthe minerals in colloidal products are assimilated 10x better thanplain old cheap tablet supplements, they contain about 100x lessof, e.g., calcium and magnesium. I would more recommend agood capsule multimineral that is inexpensive, like Solaray Cal-MagCitrate (available at many HFSs), which also contains some herbswhich provide trace minerals.

To answer your question WITHOUT trying to get you to buy a product:

There is no difference. The aluminum, mercury, cadmium, etc in colloidalmineral products is JUST as absorbable as all the other other nutrientsthere...BEWARE!