How to Minimize Your Exposure to Aluminum When Cooking

This article explains How to Minimize Your Exposure to Aluminum When Cooking. Aluminum exposure can be reduced by decreasing your intake of highly processed foods and reducing your use of aluminum foil and aluminum cooking utensils. It’s impossible to completely remove aluminum from your diet, but you can work to minimize it.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have agreed that levels below 2 mg per 2.2 pounds (1 kg) body weight per week are unlikely to cause health problems (22).

The European Food Safety Authority uses a more conservative estimate of 1 mg per 2.2 pounds (1 kg) body weight per week (2Trusted Source).

However, it’s assumed that most people consume much less than this (2Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source) Here are some steps you can take to minimize unnecessary exposure to aluminum when cooking:

• Avoid high-heat cooking: Cook your foods at lower temperatures when possible.
• Use less aluminum foil: Reduce your use of aluminum foil for cooking, especially if cooking with acidic foods, like tomatoes or lemons.
• Use non-aluminum utensils: Use non-aluminum utensils to cook your food, such as glass or porcelain dishes and utensils.
• Avoid mixing aluminum foil and acidic foods: Avoid exposing aluminum foil or cookware to acidic food, such as tomato sauce or rhubarb (23Trusted Source).

Additionally, as commercially processed foods can be packaged in aluminum or contain food additives that contain it, they may have higher levels of aluminum than their homemade equivalents (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).

Thus, eating mostly home-cooked foods and reducing your intake of commercially processed foods may help to reduce your aluminum intake