>There have been subsequent studies focused on the question directly, and there is no evidence that aluminum pans can hurt you. <
I won't go into the journalistic accuracy of NPR, except to say that they're among the ones who first misinterpreted the early reports. Now they complain that nobody listens when they try one of their non-retraction retractions.
Anyway, the original study (which may have been filled with artifact) did not conclude that aluminum caused anything. What it purportedly found was a higher incidence of aluminum in parts of the brain associated with alzheimers. On the assumption that the study was correct, popular science reporters concluded that aluminum caused alzheimers.
Meanwhile, real scientists were trying to establish what, if any, causal relationship existed. Again, assuming the original study was correct, the question was: Did aluminum build up cause (or contribute to the onset of) alzheimers? Or did alzheirmers somehow cause the build-up of aluminum? And, either way, was there a genetic relationship to aluminum build-up.
In the course of doing those studies it turns out nobody could replicate the original findings, and is now generally believed that one of the medical techs somehow messed up.
But the fact is, aluminum has been looked at as a possible link in other illnesses. Which is why I say the jury is still out.
And, of course, there are some things---particularly acid foods---that you don't want to cook in aluminum anyway. Even white sauces should not be made in aluminum, because they turn gray if you do so.
>Practically speaking, of course, you may have some trouble finding such pans outside a restaurant supply house, because there isn't much demand -- everyone "knows" they're deadly, right? <
I don't think that's true at all, Chris. The high-end shops tend to not stock straight aluminum because 1. it's cheap, and the margins on it are low, and 2. it doesn't fit their image. However, most of the anodized cookware stocked by them is aluminum---and overpriced, IMO.
In big box and general department stores, aluminum cookware is still all over the place. It doesn't predominate like it used to (only because they have low-end SS lines they can sell at a bigger mark-up), but it's still fairly common.
The hard one to find outside of restaurant supply houses is carbon steel. I haven't seen any of that in retail establishments in a mort of years. But I wonder if, with the rediscovery of cast iron, if carbon might not be poised for a come-back as well.  |