Craaaaaazy for coffee! (Hopefully not?)

April 7, 2020 6:07 PM

I am the proud owner of a 6 cup aluminum Bialetti coffee percolator. Italian made. I love it to death and use it everyday, but a friend recently pointed out the toxicity of aluminum and the fact that it can cause Alzheimer’s later in life. Or something.

I do recognize that I am getting it hot enough to boil water (or actually way hotter because I have a gas stove) and then drinking the water that was boiled in it. So if it is toxic this seems like it would be the ideal way to get those toxins straight into my system.
Should I switch to a French press or can I ignore this friend and keep using my favorite kitchen appliance freely?

posted by leafmealone to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

Here's some literature on it.

The results section suggests you're fine.
--"In a systematic study of aluminum drinking bottles, it has been shown that drinking a mixture of apple juice and mineral water in an aluminum bottle may reach 86.6% of the total weekly intake (TWI) for adults, and drinking tea from an aluminum bottle may exceed the TWI (145%) for a child weighing 15 kg. In contrast, preparing coffee in an aluminum moka pot results in a maximum of 4% to TWI, if an average of 3.17 L coffee is consumed per week, even if the pots are washed in the dishwasher, against the explicit instructions of the manufacturer."
posted by correcaminos at 6:14 PM on April 7, 2020 [6 favorites]

You can get a stainless steel version of the same Bialetti stove-top percolator.

Not sure if it comes in a 6-cup version, but I have both the 4 and 10-cup stainless steel Bialetti percolators.
posted by RubyScarlet at 6:24 PM on April 7, 2020 [3 favorites]

Studies have not provided strong evidence of aluminum being a risk factor for the development of dementia. FYI, every alzheimers org in the world say the same thing; there's no proven link and the aluminium you get off pots and pans is negligible anyway. Drink up, I say!
posted by smoke at 6:41 PM on April 7, 2020 [23 favorites]

My impression of the aluminum-Alzheimer's story is that that idea is decades old and has been discredited and abandoned. I think you'll be fine.
posted by eirias at 6:43 PM on April 7, 2020 [12 favorites]

I have a stainless steel version and love it. Seems completely worth it to me, just in case the aluminum is an issue (studies are inconclusive.) It wasn't even expensive, and it's very pretty.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 2:24 AM on April 8, 2020

I work in a lab that does Alzheimer's research and none of the many talks I've been to have even mentioned aluminum. I wouldn't worry about it.
posted by ghostbikes at 9:12 AM on April 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

"Aluminum causes Alzheimer's" is the "5G causes health problems" for a slightly older cohort.
posted by sideshow at 9:54 AM on April 8, 2020 [3 favorites]