[Research on aluminium content of the diet in haerbin and daily aluminium intake of the local people].

The three sources of dietary aluminium were investigated. IPC was used for measuring aluminium content of individual foods. It was found that aluminium level in natural foods is generally less than 1 ppm, rarely exceeds 10 ppm. Some foods may contain up to 10-30 ppm aluminium during processing and handling. The concentration of aluminium in tape water was usually less than 0.05 ppm. The richest natural sources of aluminium are tea leaves, Chinese prickly ash and mustard. The aluminium content of tea leaves ranges from 300 to 1800 ppm and about 16-20% of the aluminium is extracted from the leaves. Foods made with aluminium-containing food additives contain extremely high level of aluminium. In most cases, the amount of aluminium leaching from aluminium utensils is very small or undetectable except when foods with low pH such as tomatoes are heated in aluminium utensils. Generally 4-15 mg, seldom up to 20 mg aluminium is taken daily from diet by Chinese people. Some people may consume more than 100mg aluminium from diet due to intake of foods made with aluminium-containing food additives.