I doubt if aluminum is responsible for Alzheimer's, but I have very little of it in my kitchens, and purchased very little of it for previous kitchens and owners.
Basically aluminum has only two good points that apply to cookware: Good conducter of heat, and, Cheap
The bad points are:
-Sucker warps like cardboard in the rain, show me a commercial alum pot or pan and I'll show you a belly-bottomed rock-a-by-baby bowl with a handle, or worse yet, concave, with a big hump in the middle, impossible to saute anything in it.
-Sucker oxidizes. A nice greasy thin black film of alum.oxide wherever the pot/pan touches--your clothing, your skin, countertops, table tops, hands, etc.. True there is anodized cookware, so the inside doesn't oxidize, but the outside still does--black hands and clothing again.
-Sucker reacts to acidic foods, especially if you use a metal implement to stir with--mind you the pot comes out sparking clean when it reacts, but still.......
-Suckler will stain a white soup or sauce grey if you use a metal implement to stir it with. And there's a reason why there are no aluminum mixing bowls, only s/s, you guessed it! Same reason.
-Suckers have the handles riveted on. Most do, some don't, but the majority does, 'cause the mnfctrs just HATE to weld aluminum. Problem is, they rivet with aluminum rivets, which are soft, and when you shake a pan, or jerk a pot full of water around, the rivets compress in their holes, stretch thier holes, and the thing ain't waterproof anymore. Kinda annoying.....
So, as you can see, I hate the stuff, and avoid it whenever possible.
There are exceptions, stockpots over 20 qts can get heavy if made with other materials, and since you don't saute or subject a stock pot to heavy flame, it is a "allowed". Baking sheet pans are another one. I still hate them, because every time I handle one, I get black hands. Steel sheet pans are rare, expensive, and heavy. Mixing paddle and dough hook for the Hobart are cast aluminum, and will stain your hands and clothing, but if made with other metals would be too heavy.
