Danger in Cast Aluminum Cookware?

A. Hi Maria. Thank you for your kindness. I'm not really highly experienced in refurbishing pots, I'm just the website operator. But I do believe that the "cream of tartar" suggestion proposed at both the beginning and end of thread 34157, "Need help cleaning/polishing aluminum cookware" is the best idea I've read. Best of luck with it.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Keith. We have several other threads on line here about the safety of aluminum, and various stainless steel cookwares, and cast iron, etc. -- the discussion can go on absolutely forever. But hundreds of millions of people, maybe billions, have used aluminum cookware for generation after generation without any non-debatable hazard. How dangerous can it possibly be in the absolute worst case?

So I still maintain that, in a world that is perpetually falling apart and where there are so many real dangers to spend your time on, none of these cookwares are dangerous enough to waste our time worrying about. Just use something that you like cooking with, and worry about GMOs, growth hormones, excessive antibiotics, vaccinations, fluorides, bee extinction, global warming, nuclear armed terrorists, revolution, extinction-event comets, or nuclear-accelerator-created black holes. :-)

Luck and Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

Update, Dec. 2022: My list of things to worry about didn't include pandemics :-(
How stupid and short-cited was I :-)

A. Keith,
Any dinner that is able to pull chromium and nickel off of stainless cookware in any meaningful, much less dangerous, amount, is certainly not something I would want to eat! The same goes for aluminum.

Somehow I doubt iron is harmful, it is a vital part of our hemoglobin, after all. Possibly in some kind of absurd amount, but that's true of anything. I would do some checking on whatever source is making this claim.

As far as exploding glass, I'm sure it's possible, but only if specific conditions are met, like a certain type of defect or doing something very foolish.

Ted's right, folks are always trying to stir up panic over something or other, and the credibility or likelihood of each supposed threat varies wildly. Common sense is better than paranoia, though.

A. Hi Linda
Why are you ditching a perfectly good aluminium pot?
Aluminium is the third most abundant element on the planet, it cannot be avoided.
Iron pots? Iron is a vital dietary ingredient.
Copper? The material of choice by professional cooks for centuries - and it has strong anti-bacterial properties.

Having spent my professional career working with some truly nasty chemicals, I may offer some thoughts.

There are no toxic chemicals; only toxic quantities (Paracelsus 13C) Lesson; don't eat the cooking pot.

Even more important; Worry kills more people than the things they worry about.

So enjoy your food and sleep well and avoid reading scare stories spread by the totally ignorant.

In addition to The Great Firewall (which makes sure nothing uncomplimentary can pass into China), researchers have just today announced the existence of The Great Cannon, a technology that allows China to instantly fire a gigantic distributed denial of service attack to bring down any website which speaks poorly of her.

China is great & good and we shall speak no evil. We shall learn to love anti-freeze in our dog food, sulfides in our wallboard, and cadmium in our toddlers' lickables.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

Point well taken. Thank you Ted.
I hereby close out my query.

Ciao.
Linda N. Riddell [returning]
- North Vancouver, BC, Canada

Ted,
I have read all the posts an am in total agreement with you. My mom cooked on aluminum pots for 50 years and died at 90. I still have the old Magnalite she had an I think they are perfect. I use aluminum, iron and ceramic. I might die in a plane crash, fall off a flying trapeze or a camel, but not from use of a aluminum pot or stress about such nonsense.
Thanks for the entertainment,
Long live Magnalite.
Stephanie Reed
- San Francisco, California, USA

My great grandmother used Club aluminum pots and pans for decades; she lived to be 99 and a half with a sharp mind that was quicker than the rest of the family's!
Julie May
- Pacifica, California

A. Hi Susie. If you look at your white spots with a magnifying glass, I think you may find that they are pits rather than flakes. I don't think you can make them go away because they are depressions in the aluminum. You can simmer vinegar in the pot for 15 minutes and see if there is improvement, but I doubt it.

I personally don't think the pits are a safety issue (it has been discussed earlier on this page), but once again, I have no medical & epidemiology expertise :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi FS. Sorry but I have no familiarity with "white mold" in such a situation, so I can't say for sure it isn't, but I don't think it is. Aluminum does in fact corrode, and the corrosion products are white, and look a bit like dried salt deposits or mini volcanoes. If readers have aluminum shower doors, they may see such corrosion at the mitered edges where the corners join (because the aluminum was anodized & dyed before it was cut to length, and the non-anodized cut ends corrode due to be nearly constantly wet).

If the anodizing on your pot is pretty much gone, and you're using it in a fashion that favors creation of this corrosion (such as keeping it wet for long stretches and especially in a humid environment), you'll have to decide if it's worth the effort to be cleaning it constantly.

I'd suggest one really thorough cleaning/polishing with cream of tartar as described & illustrated in thread 41066, "Dishwasher ruined shiny aluminum", then using a different pot for your humidification needs, and not leaving this one soaking for long periods, and seeing if you find continuing to use this pot manageable.
Alternately, Rachel Macintosh suggests going in the opposite direction -- seasoning & treating your aluminum pots & pans pretty much the same way as your cast iron ones. And there is a lot to be said for that if you remain concerned about aluminum exposure because then you have a substantial layer of pretty much inert baked-on oil & grease between your food and the aluminum :-)

Luck & Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. I would definitely stop using the water you've been using and replace it with fresh sterile distilled water due to the corrosion. I would then write or make an appointment to see an pulmonologist to answer your questions and see if this specific doctor recommends checking your lungs. I definitely would NOT use an aluminum pot to boil your water, aluminum is not a good choice at all. Wishing you the best!
F.H. Florida Hart
- Salina, Kansas
December 2, 2022

RE: ALUMINIUM HEALTH ISSUES a few medical journals as you keep requesting - as you say more medical facts needed:

Environmental Geochemistry and Health
March 1997, Volume 19, Issue 1, pp 00
Leaching of aluminium from cookwares
Rajwanshi, P., Singh, V., Gupta, M. et al. Environmental Geochemistry and Health (1997) 19: 0. doi:10.1023/A:1018466911282
Abstract
Concern over the possible relation between environmental aluminium exposure and Alzheimer's disease has prompted studies of all forms of human intake of this element including that from foods. Aluminium cookware, apart from other sources of dietary aluminium, is considered to be a potential source of this metal to human beings. Various research groups have carried out aluminium leaching experiments with food, beverages and water under different experimental conditions modified by varying the level of pH, chloride, fluoride, citrate, acetate etc. The results reported by different workers show marked discrepancies in levels of leached aluminum. The apparent reason for such discrepancy in levels of aluminum leached can be attributed to factors such as non-systematic and non-uniform experimental designs, non-standard conditions maintained during the experiments and choice of method for aluminium analysis. In order to assess accurately the contribution of aluminium ingestion by human beings through aluminium cookware, the present review emphasizes the need of i) standard size aluminium plates obtained from the same lot for one set of experimentations; ii) real life cooking conditions to highlight the role of various complexing species present in food e.g. citrate, oxalate, acetate, tartrate etc.; iii) role of chemistry of aluminium in presence of acidic, basic and neutral cooking medium and iv) strict analytical control in the estimation of aluminium. Results of a systematic study by the authors conducted on the above-mentioned lines are also described.
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John MILES
- London UK
February 14, 2017

----
Ed. note: Thanks very much John! It's 2017 and this thread started in 2003, so introducing newer findings is a valuable addition.

A. Hi,
I am a retired chemical engineer (PhD) and geologist and now spend my time managing a chain of my high end restaurants on the west coast. I have not read anywhere in the posts on your thread about commercial and industrial installations that prepare and cook almost all of the food we eat as a people in restaurants, packages, fast food, etc. Without exception, any commercially viable entity that prepares and deals with food items for human consumption uses aluminum cooking utensils (pots, pans, spoons, forks, etc.). Though there is a large proponent of these institutions that would like to use stainless steel (and some are mandated by federal law to do so), the use of stainless steel is cost prohibitive and it does not cook as well or as fast (and BELIEVE me, time IS money in commercial/industrial kitchens).

So, if any of your readers ever buys takeout, eats at a restaurant, fast food establishment or buys prepared food items, they are consuming minuscule amounts of aluminum from the cookware these foods were prepared in. No, you cannot get away from aluminum in your food, at least not unless you live in Antarctica and hunt your own fish (but mercury is a big concern there).

Aluminum cookware heats more evenly, cooks better and lasts a long time, it is lighter to handle and simpler to clean using an abrasive powder and a scrub pad. Use your nice aluminum cookware, enjoy the ease of cooking it provides. As mentioned before, storing acidic foods in aluminum pots for more than a few hours is poor form as it will tend to pit the surface of the pots. The Internet is chock full of all kinds of people with zero to no scientific credentials, have limited or no common sense and this type of person is most apt to raise all kinds of concerns without being able to substantiate any of their claims.

There is not causal proof that aluminum is related to Alzheimer's, is the aluminum in the brain tissue before or after the disease? Who cares. We all use smart/cellphones, and these emit harmful EM radiation, and countless studies have published articles on both sides of this debate, but we don't stop using them, do we? Same goes for all of the EM radiation created by electrical conductors in our homes, businesses and workplaces. But do we stop living in our homes, work or play in buildings because there is a potential of cancer from EM radiation from electrical wires?

Wake up people, the earth is heated by decomposing radioactive elements in the mantle. The greatest cause of all plant and animal mutations on earth is the naturally occurring radiation from the same planet we live on that radiates to the surface of the crust. It has been for billions of years. Along with solar wind, neutrinos, charmed particles and all sub-atomic particles, we live in a dangerous universe (including the effect of gravity on our bodies). Minuscule aluminum atoms from aluminum pots, pans and utensils should not be a concern for your health and well-being.

My dad is 99 years old, has a better memory than I do, is completely lucid, still drives legally and has eaten from aluminum pots for over 60 years, and still does, as does his entire family. Same for my mom who died from a drunk driver at 94.

I will continue to use my aluminum cookware for myself, family and friends.

Michel
Michel Fortier
- Denver, Colorado, USA

Thanks Michel for your generous explanation.
Ivy Sew [returning]
1963 - Batu Caves, Malaysia

silly :-) Automobiles have been involved in many deaths. Perhaps we should go back to horses and/or mules or donkeys.
mary ann nelson
pharmacist ret. - Freeport, Illinois USA

I'm 59 years old. Long before the internet or google came along I was taught to stay away from cooking with aluminum, which is why they had enamel pots 'n pans -- as the metals leached into all our foods.
I could care less what google says nor the internet; there is a reason you cook with stainless steel or enamel cookware. I have never been a fan of aluminum pots 'n pans.
Don Denver
- San Antonio, Texas USA
January 2, 2018

A. Hi Robert. Congratulations to your grandma! It strikes me that grandmas seem to be what holds civilization together :-)
Luck & Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Sonia. The purpose of sales blurbs is to induce you to buy, not to technically inform you, so it can be quite difficult to tell if cookware is simply anodized or has a teflon or similar coating. Water will bead on any plastic coating and will probably not bead on an anodized surface; a hard anodized surface won't have a soft feel nor feel warm. But it can still be hard to tell.

Anodizing will not survive a dishwashing machine; I think many vendors are now adding non-stick, and it's possibly so that customers who put their pans in a dishwasher don't hassle them that the pan got ruined.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

  Ted, thanks for your quick response about shopping for anodized aluminum. I will keep some of those tips in mind while I look! Thanks again, Sonia
Sonia Johnson [returning]
- Richmond, Virginia, USA

  I smelled something cookin', and came to join the party! Who brought the Buffalo wings?
My mentor/colleague and I both love our aluminum cookware, and both work in an aluminum anodizing shop (I'm the chemist, he's the engineer).
Both of us treat our aluminum like raw steel (think Woks and Paella pans) or cast iron:
No dishwasher, mild soap (if any), and lots of baked on grease.
Seriously.
Between us, he's the baker and I'm the cook. His muffin tins and cookie sheets have an impressively impermeable layer of orangeish brown baked-on grease passed down from his grandmother (yes, the grease as well as the pans themselves), and woe betide anyone who tries to be helpful and scour them clean! No cookies for you! Not only are they nonstick, but the aluminum is protected from the food, and vice versa.
I made him a Sicilian lemon-ricotta cheesecake (the only thing I know how to bake reliably) for his birthday a couple years back and of COURSE he returned the pan freshly hardcoated... Because of course he did haha.
For myself, I use NSF rated TyIII hardcoated pots and pans. Hmmm what is the MILSPEC for Sulfuric Hardcoat Anodize / Natural color / Crisco seal? ;)
Like my work bestie, I NEVER wash them down to their original cleanliness! Unsealed hardcoat is neat in that it has microscopic 'pores' in it, and if you let cooking oil really bake on there, it sticks great! I treat them just like cast iron- buff clean with a plastic scouring pad and very hot water, wipe with oil inside and out, and toss on the stove for a couple minutes to dry off and kill germs. My saute pans are pretty darn nonstick at this point! Tomato sauces will strip the grease layer but I use enameled cast iron for those anyway.
Sure, our pots and pans and baking sheets may look horrific, but nothing attacks them, and cookies slide right off with a quick knock on the counter.
So if you don't mind your pots and pans looking scruffy, just give them the ol' baked on oil treatment as approved by two well fed anodizers!

On a more serious note, just a couple facts I'd like to add to this discussion:
-High pH foods and cleaners damage/leach aluminum just as much (and in some cases more) than acids. Dishwasher detergent in a hot dishwasher is chemically similar to the etch tank we run at the shop to strip off old anodic coatings intentionally. Keep all your aluminum out of the dishwasher, always. It will strip anodize, and etch raw aluminum, leaving a grey smutty mess that needs even nastier chemicals to clean off.
-There's a lot of discussion about Aluminum and Alzheimer's. And a lot of it is from questionable sources. But there's also some new and promising research in the form of a recent (and yes, peer-reviewed!) series of studies out of the UK that have been published by the NIH over the last few years. These credibly link Alzheimer's to an immune response to pathogens from periodontal disease, and research is ongoing in this area. It's not only fascinating, but promising for a new approach to prevention and with luck, elimination of this tragic disease!

A. Thanks Nils. Caphalon is a brand name / trade name, not a model number, so your experience with one particular pan with that name may not match my experience with a different one. I received a hard anodized (dark gray) pan as a gift 20 years ago and it remains my favorite.

Certainly a hard anodized pan is a better surface than plain aluminum because it's rock hard, and we do see here some complaints of non-anodized aluminum generating an unattractive black dust. You are welcome to re-address that and 'leaching', but I don't think it makes sense for me to do so myself after 16 years here.

We're not crazy about recommending brands here (huh? why?); although it's perhaps okay for you, as a real person, this is a no-registration required site susceptible to fake reviews from vendors posing as satisfied customers, fake complaints against competitors, and spambots :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

  Thanks for your response. I guess the science of the anodization process would make you think that it wouldn't affect the thermal qualities.

As stated, been using steel wool on the 14" aluminum pan for close to 35 years and never was concerned about the black residue, and you don't seem to be either.

With all my more expensive pans, tough to beat the convenience and cooking qualities of aluminum.
Nils Eliassen [returning]
- New York

A. Hi Peter. I don't know the best aluminum alloy for cast aluminum pots but there is also the issue of anodizing as well as casting. Only the aluminum portion of an alloy anodizes; the other materials in the alloy do not, so alloys with the least non-aluminum content will as a general rule anodize best.

Further, while copper is necessary in high strength alloys for aerospace, etc., it is perhaps the most problematic alloying ingredient because over time the copper migrates to the grain boundaries, causing a serious problem trying to anodize it; I can't imagine a need for aircraft strength aluminum in a pot or pan, so I'd avoid aircraft aluminum grades.

The problem with dishwashers is that nearly all common dishwasher detergents are very highly alkaline, and that alkalinity seriously attacks both the anodizing and the raw aluminum. Only with rare exception and with special coatings is aluminum dishwasher-safe.

Luck & Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey