VIEW ARTICLE    DOI: 10.1094/ASBCJ-53-0085

Content, Chemical Speciation, and Significance of Aluminum in Beer (1). F. Richard Sharpe, Whitbread PLC, Whitbread Technical Centre, Park Street, Luton, Bedfordshire LU1 3ET, United Kingdom, and David R. Williams, University of Wales, Cardiff, Cardiff CF1 3TB, United Kingdom. (1) Presented at the ASBC Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, May 1994, and the EBC Biochemistry Group Meeting, Lisbon, Spain, September 1994. J. Am. Soc. Brew. Chem. 53(2):85-92, 1995. Accepted November 14, 1994.

Aluminum in beer should be analyzed using electrothermal atomization and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. In a study of U.K. beers by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), the median level found was approximately 100 µg/L. Very high levels of up to 6,500 µg/L were detected in some keg beers, but this was the exception. Most beers had levels between 20 and 3,000 µg/L (the range was highly skewed at upper levels). Canned and bottled beers contained 40-330 and 50-220 µg/L, respectively. A similar study of the U.K. beer market showed that the median aluminum level was 165 µg/L, and approximately 5% of beers examined contained in excess of 500 µg/L but none exceeded 810 µg/L. Computer speciation modeling of aluminum in lager beer as it travels through the gut showed that only trace amounts of aluminum would be bioavailable in the mouth and in the stomach. In the small intestine, there were significant amounts of the ingested aluminum potentially bioavailable as [AlPO(4)](^0), however, some of it would precipitate as solid and get lost in the feces while some would form [AlCit(OH)(2)](^2-) complexes in the blood, which are readily excreted through renal desalination. Thus overall, only traces of the total 100-165 µg/L aluminum in beer are potentially transported into blood. Despite the recent interest in aluminum and its suggested link with Alzheimer's disease, the medical picture is not clear and no link has been proven. The medical debate will continue; however, assuming the aluminum intake figures calculated by MAFF from water (0.2 mg/day) and beer (0.07 mg/day), there is no evidence to show that one is at any higher risk of aluminum absorption when drinking beer compared with potable tap waters. Keywords: Aluminum, Alzheimer's disease, Analysis, Beer, Speciation