Hardisson et al. 2017 — Aluminium exposure through the diet
This 2017 narrative review compiles aluminium (Al) concentration data from published studies across multiple food matrices and drink types, with the aim of estimating total dietary intake and comparing it to health-based guidance values. The authors find that vegetables (mean 16.8 mg/kg), fish and seafood (mean 11.9 mg/kg), and roots and tubers (mean 9.60 mg/kg) carry the highest Al concentrations among food groups, while processed cheese manufactured with sodium aluminium phosphate additives can reach extreme concentrations (470 mg/kg). Estimated dietary intakes calculated against Spanish population consumption data and EFSA’s Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) of 1 mg/kg body weight per week indicate that vegetables account for 32.5% and fruits for 18.2% (adults) and 29.4% (children) of weekly Al intake, making these food groups the dominant contributors.
Key numbers
Drinks (mg/L unless noted)
- Drinking water, Spain: mean 0.12 ± 0.06 (n=20, ICP-OES)
- Mineral/spring/table water, Germany: mean 2 (n=171, ICP-MS)
- Fruit juice and fruit juice drinks, Germany: mean 3 (n=59, ICP-MS)
- Wine, Spain: mean 2.42 ± 2.03 (n=20, ICP-OES)
- Tea infusions, Jordan: mean 2.1 ± 0.1 (n=3, FAAS/GFAAS)
- Tea leaf dry weight: 312 ± 18 µg/g (Sweileh et al.)
Vegetables (mg/kg)
- Squash, carrots, marrow, cabbage, watercress, spinach, Spain: mean 27.47 ± 38.47 (n=20, ICP-OES)
- Baked potato, USA: mean 26
- Cooked green beans, USA: mean 3.4
Fruit (mg/kg)
- Banana, Spain: mean 32.80 ± 33.05 (n=20, ICP-OES)
- Peaches, pears, plums, Spain: mean 9.68 ± 6.88 (n=20, ICP-OES)
Meat (mg/kg)
- Viscera, Spain: mean 11.19 ± 6.42 (n=20, ICP-OES)
- Red meat, Spain: mean 9.31 ± 4.85 (n=40, ICP-OES)
- Poultry/rabbit, Spain: mean 6.35 ± 2.83 (n=20, ICP-OES)
- Porcine muscle, France: 0.21 (ICP-MS)
Dairy (mg/kg)
- Processed American cheese slices, USA: mean 470 ± 200 (FAAS/GFAAS) — attributed to sodium aluminium phosphate additive
- Processed cheese, USA: 29.7
- Whole milk, Spain: mean 0.37 ± 0.09 (n=20, ICP-OES)
Fish (mg/kg)
- Oily fish, Spain/Morocco/South Africa/Mauritania: mean 3.90 ± 1.97 (n=20, ICP-OES)
- White fish, same origins: mean 3.57 ± 3.23 (n=20, ICP-OES)
- Trachurus genera (horse mackerel), Turkey: range 1.343–49.24 (n=60, ICP-MS)
- Fish, USA: mean 0.40 (Soni et al.)
Seafood (mg/kg)
- Warty sea squirts (S. plicata), South Korea: mean 204.6 ± 166.4 (n=66, ICP-OES) — highest reported in the review
- Sea urchin (A. crassispina), South Korea: mean 26.9 ± 30.1 (n=26, ICP-OES)
- Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), Spain: 10.2 (ICP-MS)
Seaweed (mg/kg)
- Gulf weed, South Korea: mean 52.1 ± 7.34 (n=15, ICP-MS) — highest among seaweeds
- Red seaweed, Asian/EU: mean 27.1 ± 22.6 (n=18, ICP-OES)
- Laver, South Korea: mean 15.5 ± 9.36 (n=53, ICP-MS)
Estimated dietary intake vs TWI (Spanish population)
- Children (7–12 years, 34.48 kg): vegetables 32.5% of TWI/week; fruits 29.4%; fish and seafood 15.2%; milk/derivates 26.6%; meat/derivates 18.7%
- Adults (≥17 years, 68.48 kg): vegetables 32.5%; fruits 18.2%; fish and seafood 11.4%; milk/derivates 10.9%; meat/derivates 10.1%
- EFSA TWI: 1 mg Al/kg body weight/week
- FAO/WHO PTWI: 2 mg Al/kg body weight/week (twice the EFSA value)
- EFSA baseline EU exposure estimate: 28.62–14 µg/kg body weight per day
Methods (brief)
Literature review of studies published from 1985 to 2017 retrieved via Web of Science, MEDLINE (PubMed), Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Universidad de La Laguna library holdings. Inclusion criteria required quality-control use of certified reference materials. Studies were classified into “before 2000” and “after 2000” periods. Analytical methods compiled across cited studies include ICP-OES, ICP-AES, ICP-MS, GFAAS, and FAAS; primary LODs range from 0.003 ng/mL (ICP-MS) to 30 ng/mL (FAAS). Dietary intake estimated using mean Al concentrations compiled from the review and Spanish population consumption data from AESAN.
Implications
Certification: Fish and seafood as a food group carries a mean Al of 11.9 mg/kg in this review, second only to vegetables, but with extreme outliers in filter-feeding marine organisms (sea squirts up to 204.6 mg/kg). Processed cheeses using aluminium-based additives can reach ~470 mg/kg — an additive-driven pathway rather than environmental contamination. Al is not yet in the HMT&C analyte vocabulary but is relevant to any certification claim regarding safe overall metals burden.
Courses: This review usefully illustrates how food-additive Al (sodium aluminium phosphate in processed cheese) and environmental Al (from soil acidification and aquatic pathways) represent distinct exposure routes requiring different control levers.
App: The mean values compiled here (11.9 mg/kg fish/seafood; 16.8 mg/kg vegetables) can inform default contamination profile stubs for Al in those ingredient categories until more primary data is integrated.