The Dangers Of Using Aluminum Foil In Cooking

Aluminum foil is usually used for three different purposes: to cover surfaces where food comes to be cooked (for example, in baking), to preserve food (wrapped), or to keep it warm when it has already been cooked.

While aluminum foil has proven to be a useful aid, it is easy to handle and very inexpensive, is it really harmless? How much should it be used? We will now delve into this topic in more detail.

Why should aluminum foil not be used for cooking?

The aluminum foil consists of a very thin sheet, as the name implies, made of aluminum, wrapped in a cardboard cylinder to make it easier to cut and to be used effortlessly as needed. The thickness of the sheet usually does not exceed 0.2 millimeters.

What is aluminum?

After steel, aluminum has been one of the most widely used metals since the 20th century. It is extracted from bauxite, a type of sedimentary rock. Aluminum has a very long service life and conducts both electricity and heat brilliantly. Other major properties of aluminum include:

• Tenacity. Toughness refers to the ability of a metal to absorb energy before it breaks or loses its shape.
• Forgeability. This is a physical property by which metals can be formed into sheets.
• Tensile strength. Tensile strength refers to how metals can be formed by force without breaking. In this way, for example, mental yarns and fibers can be made from this material.

When is aluminum harmful to health?

Aluminum (mixed with other elements) is a very economical material that can be found in the form of cutlery, pots, frying pans as well as many other utensils commonly used at home. At this stage, however, it is good to clarify that the use of these tools is not harmful to health.

However, wrapping food in foil and baking food in an oven or on fire at high temperatures can be dangerous to health. This is especially true for certain types of foods, such as sour or spicy foods. Let’s look at some details next to understand this.

How does aluminum affect the human body?

Aluminum can be excreted inside us when it comes in contact with the body, albeit only in small amounts. In other words, such a small amount of aluminum does not cause problems.

However, it must be borne in mind that we become more exposed to this metal on a daily basis than we think. It is found in many different foods and medicines, such as:

• About tea
• From corn
• About herbs
• About table salt
• Drinking water
• From yellow cheese
• About aromatic spices
• Some drugs, such as antacids that neutralize gastric hyperacidity

Among the most common disorders due to the high content of aluminum in the body, we can mention the following pathologies, among others:

• High levels of aluminum increase the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
• Aluminum is very harmful to patients with kidney problems.
• Aluminum can also cause a variety of disorders in patients with skeletal disorders.
• High levels of aluminum also reduce the growth of human brain cells.

Baking with aluminum foil should be avoided at too high temperatures

An important factor in reducing the amount of aluminum is to avoid rubbing frying pans and pots after cooking. Namely, these aluminum-containing materials have a tendency to oxidize and form an inert layer on their surface, which prevents the aluminum from mixing with food.

Rather, the problem is the preparation of foods wrapped in aluminum foil, as this is a disposable item that does not create the above-mentioned inert layer before use. During cooking, aluminum is transported into the food in a way that exceeds the limits perceived as harmless to the body.

In conclusion, we can say that the use of aluminum foil in the kitchen in itself has no problem when used for storing and handling food. Rather, the dangers of using aluminum foil lie in heating it at high temperatures, and therefore we do not recommend using it in these cases at all.