anti-perspirant safety
August 8, 2005 10:46 PM Subscribe
Is aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex glycine safe to use, as in an anti-perspirant?
I used a Tom's of Maine deodorant for years, but lately I noticed that anti-perspirants were much more effective. I've heard that Alzheimer's disease has been associated, though not necessarily causatively, with increased levels of aluminum in certain regions of the brain. I'm really pleased with my new tube of Mitchum and I would like to know how safe the active ingredient is, with respect to any and all potential health concerns.
I used a Tom's of Maine deodorant for years, but lately I noticed that anti-perspirants were much more effective. I've heard that Alzheimer's disease has been associated, though not necessarily causatively, with increased levels of aluminum in certain regions of the brain. I'm really pleased with my new tube of Mitchum and I would like to know how safe the active ingredient is, with respect to any and all potential health concerns.
Having taken courses in environmental toxicology, I know it's not entirely rational or scientifically based, but I am still wary of putting heavy metals of any kind near my lymph nodes no matter what study data may say. I use Tom's of Maine as well, and yeah, it doesn't work as good at mainstream brands, but the ingredients are harmless.
posted by mathowie at 11:26 PM on August 8, 2005
posted by mathowie at 11:26 PM on August 8, 2005
Well, you'd be actively stuffing your pores full of chemicals by using an anti-perspirant (after all, that's how they work). I suspect that it won't be good for your body.
posted by cmonkey at 12:00 AM on August 9, 2005
posted by cmonkey at 12:00 AM on August 9, 2005
Excellent question, I too am curious to know the truth here. I used a tea tree oil based anti-perspirant for a while, but frankly they just don't cut it.
This is one of those things that I think we'll find out the answer to in about 30 years, the hard way.
posted by wilful at 12:08 AM on August 9, 2005
This is one of those things that I think we'll find out the answer to in about 30 years, the hard way.
posted by wilful at 12:08 AM on August 9, 2005
A PubMed search for yielded a whopping three hits. One is a 10-year-study publisehd in 2002 that concludes that there is no statistically significant link. One is a 1998 highly speculative paper that wonders if there might be a link. The third is a study from 1990 that concludes that there is a significant link between antiperspirants and Alzheimer's, but admits methodological problems.
We don't really know.
posted by grouse at 1:24 AM on August 9, 2005
We don't really know.
posted by grouse at 1:24 AM on August 9, 2005
I've got something called 'pit rock'. It's a natural rock crystal deodorant. Dunno how it compares to your one, but it works quite well, especially if you put it on before you start to sweat.
posted by lunkfish at 1:27 AM on August 9, 2005
posted by lunkfish at 1:27 AM on August 9, 2005
The association between aluminum-containing products and Alzheimer's disease.
Graves AB, White E, Koepsell TD, Reifler BV, van Belle G, Larson EB.
J Clin Epidemiol. 1990;43(1):35-44.
"For all antiperspirant/deodorant use, regardless of aluminum content, there was no association with AD (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.2, 95% CI = 0.6-2.4). For aluminum-containing antiperspirants, the overall adjusted OR was 1.6 (95% CI = 1.04-2.4)."
Doesn't seem very risky to me compared with baseline, but that's just my impression.
Further, it seems the real potential culprits are common metals already in your brain:
The galvanization of ß-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease
Bush AI, Tanzi RE
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 May 28;99(11):7317-9.
"Whereas a decade ago thoughts of metals and Alzheimer's disease (AD) conjured up thoughts of tossing out your aluminum cookware, more recently, zinc, copper, and iron have been implicated in AD pathology. These metals are not derived from your saucepan or deodorant, but are already resident in the brain. Zinc is not a trace metal in the brain. In fact, zinc, copper, and iron concentrations in gray matter are in the same order of magnitude as magnesium (0.1-0.5 mM; refs. 1 and 2) and their participation in major neurological diseases is being increasingly appreciated (3)."
FWIW I try to minimize my use to deodorants, but that's mainly because anti-perspirants are bad in principle: you sweat to cool off, and not being able to sweat hurts your body.
posted by Rothko at 2:48 AM on August 9, 2005
Graves AB, White E, Koepsell TD, Reifler BV, van Belle G, Larson EB.
J Clin Epidemiol. 1990;43(1):35-44.
"For all antiperspirant/deodorant use, regardless of aluminum content, there was no association with AD (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.2, 95% CI = 0.6-2.4). For aluminum-containing antiperspirants, the overall adjusted OR was 1.6 (95% CI = 1.04-2.4)."
Doesn't seem very risky to me compared with baseline, but that's just my impression.
Further, it seems the real potential culprits are common metals already in your brain:
The galvanization of ß-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease
Bush AI, Tanzi RE
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 May 28;99(11):7317-9.
"Whereas a decade ago thoughts of metals and Alzheimer's disease (AD) conjured up thoughts of tossing out your aluminum cookware, more recently, zinc, copper, and iron have been implicated in AD pathology. These metals are not derived from your saucepan or deodorant, but are already resident in the brain. Zinc is not a trace metal in the brain. In fact, zinc, copper, and iron concentrations in gray matter are in the same order of magnitude as magnesium (0.1-0.5 mM; refs. 1 and 2) and their participation in major neurological diseases is being increasingly appreciated (3)."
FWIW I try to minimize my use to deodorants, but that's mainly because anti-perspirants are bad in principle: you sweat to cool off, and not being able to sweat hurts your body.
posted by Rothko at 2:48 AM on August 9, 2005
The specific investigations of Alzheimer's aside, two good reasons aluminum probably doesn't enter the body from deodorant to cause problems:
1. Aluminum is the third-most abundant element in the earth's crust
2. Aluminum is so widely used in materials (pots, pans) and also added directly into baked goods (alum).
posted by rxrfrx at 5:22 AM on August 9, 2005
1. Aluminum is the third-most abundant element in the earth's crust
2. Aluminum is so widely used in materials (pots, pans) and also added directly into baked goods (alum).
posted by rxrfrx at 5:22 AM on August 9, 2005
I can't tell you anything about its overall safety or Alzheimer's, but I used Mitchum for a few years. I sweat heavily enough that I would still sweat even with that.
So one fateful day, I ran out of Mitchum, and I was too lazy to go buy a new stick for awhile. The Mitchum's effect lasted about a week, and then my armpits got super red, dry, and irritated for a few days. Then I noticed I sweated a lot less from my armpits on an average day. That kind of freaked me out and I swore off anti-persperant for good. Me, possibly the world's heaviest sweater.
Although those stones do seem interesting...
posted by patgas at 5:29 AM on August 9, 2005
So one fateful day, I ran out of Mitchum, and I was too lazy to go buy a new stick for awhile. The Mitchum's effect lasted about a week, and then my armpits got super red, dry, and irritated for a few days. Then I noticed I sweated a lot less from my armpits on an average day. That kind of freaked me out and I swore off anti-persperant for good. Me, possibly the world's heaviest sweater.
Although those stones do seem interesting...
posted by patgas at 5:29 AM on August 9, 2005
two good reasons aluminum probably doesn't enter the body from deodorant to cause problems:
1. Aluminum is the third-most abundant element in the earth's crust
2. Aluminum is so widely used in materials (pots, pans) and also added directly into baked goods (alum).
Spreading something all over your skin is not the same thing as simple abundance. Glass is probably fairly abundant and harmless in your environment but that's not the same as rubbing little broken bits of it all over your skin. The bioavailability of aluminum from alum may be different than that from the more than a dozen aluminum compounds the FDA approves for antiperspirant use.
I don't want to be alarmist, and I continue to use aluminum-based antiperspirants myself, but let's recognize that this isn't the same thing as what rxrfrx describes above.
posted by grouse at 5:44 AM on August 9, 2005
1. Aluminum is the third-most abundant element in the earth's crust
2. Aluminum is so widely used in materials (pots, pans) and also added directly into baked goods (alum).
Spreading something all over your skin is not the same thing as simple abundance. Glass is probably fairly abundant and harmless in your environment but that's not the same as rubbing little broken bits of it all over your skin. The bioavailability of aluminum from alum may be different than that from the more than a dozen aluminum compounds the FDA approves for antiperspirant use.
I don't want to be alarmist, and I continue to use aluminum-based antiperspirants myself, but let's recognize that this isn't the same thing as what rxrfrx describes above.
posted by grouse at 5:44 AM on August 9, 2005
I'm a heavy sweater, so antiperspirants never worked for me anyway. Old Spice antiperspirants caused me to get rashes under my arms after a few days. Right Guard gel antiperspirants were better, but I still got lots of underarm sweat.
Eventually, I just gave up on antiperspirants and now use Adidas deodorant. I haven't noticed a big chance in moisture level (cause it was always a lot), but it sure feels nice to be able to wash out all the product from under your arms every day.
Given my wife's experience with the natural deodorants, the Adidas one has a lot more staying power than they do. Its not the easiest stuff to find, though.
Not an endorsement, but here's the Adidas deodorant I'm referring to.
posted by Sasquatch at 7:29 AM on August 9, 2005
Eventually, I just gave up on antiperspirants and now use Adidas deodorant. I haven't noticed a big chance in moisture level (cause it was always a lot), but it sure feels nice to be able to wash out all the product from under your arms every day.
Given my wife's experience with the natural deodorants, the Adidas one has a lot more staying power than they do. Its not the easiest stuff to find, though.
Not an endorsement, but here's the Adidas deodorant I'm referring to.
posted by Sasquatch at 7:29 AM on August 9, 2005
cmonkey makes a good point: anti-perspirants work by blocking the pores in your pits. They effectively make it physically impossible for you to sweat. In my opinion, this is much more of a problem than the slight risk of AD.
I'm sure you know that Tom's makes various "flavors" of deodorant. Maybe switching to a different flavor would help? It's also important to be clean before applying the deodorant. Maybe switching soaps would also help.
FYI, I use JÂSÖN tea tree deodorant and Dr. Bronner's tea trea soap. My odor may not be pleasant to some people, and I do sweat during the summer, but it is a very natural, non-perfumed odor. In fact, the women that I've dated have told me that they like the way I smell. My main odor problem is with wearing shirts made of an acrylic or poly blend. For some reason, that material doesn't blend well with my body chemicals at all.
posted by ijoshua at 7:32 AM on August 9, 2005
I'm sure you know that Tom's makes various "flavors" of deodorant. Maybe switching to a different flavor would help? It's also important to be clean before applying the deodorant. Maybe switching soaps would also help.
FYI, I use JÂSÖN tea tree deodorant and Dr. Bronner's tea trea soap. My odor may not be pleasant to some people, and I do sweat during the summer, but it is a very natural, non-perfumed odor. In fact, the women that I've dated have told me that they like the way I smell. My main odor problem is with wearing shirts made of an acrylic or poly blend. For some reason, that material doesn't blend well with my body chemicals at all.
posted by ijoshua at 7:32 AM on August 9, 2005
For what it's worth, the deodorant rocks, despite being 'natural', are basically pure Aluminum Sulfate (or chloride?) so they won't be any safer than any of the less natural alternatives.
posted by mmoncur at 8:02 AM on August 9, 2005
posted by mmoncur at 8:02 AM on August 9, 2005
anti-perspirants work by blocking the pores in your pits. They effectively make it physically impossible for you to sweat.
... from the places where you apply the anti-perspirant.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:53 AM on August 9, 2005
... from the places where you apply the anti-perspirant.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:53 AM on August 9, 2005
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posted by 517 at 11:07 PM on August 8, 2005