Aluminum, Alzheimer's disease and bone fragility

Abstract

The incidence of fragility fractures has increased epidemically. Especially patients with senile dementia (including Alzheimer's disease) have a greatly increased risk of fragility fractures. Aluminum inhibits bone mineralization; the greater the aluminium exposure, the higher the risk of an early fracture. Aluminium is neurotoxic and may, in addition to genetic factors, play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease by contributing to the formation of the characteristic beta-amyloid and neurofibrillary tangles. Thus, a common denominator between Alzheimer's disease and bone fragility may be a chronic low-grade aluminum intoxication. The epidemic of fragility fractures may be caused by increased aluminium exposure–due to the use of aluminum cooking pots or the pollution acidification of our environment. In our pilot study of 26 hip-fracture patients (13 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 13 individually age- and gender-matched non-demented patients), the aluminum content, determined mass-spectro-metrically, was higher in trabecular bone biopsies from the patients with Alzheimer's disease than from the non-demented patients (p = 0.005). The aluminum content was also higher in the younger of the 26 patients (p = 0.02). Our findings agree with the hypothesis that aluminum plays a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease and bone fragility.