On March 7, 2024,1 Dr. Naomi Wolf sounded an alarm about a food additive that contains a known neurotoxin, and which has demonstrated the ability to cause reproductive damage in mammals after being ingested. She found the additive in a box of pancake mix in her pantry, which sent her down a trail investigating research data.
What she found was scientific evidence that has not been well publicized in the mainstream media, including an ingredient that’s commonly found in commercially prepared food, including baked goods and processed cheeses. The ingredient is sodium aluminum phosphate, which the food industry claims to use as an emulsifying agent and stabilizer.
Innophos2 manufactures the product and the safety data sheet states “The product meets the definition of a hazardous substance or preparation.” Under health hazards, it lists damage to the eyes and irritation to the skin and respiratory system. Those working around it must avoid breathing any dust and the product should be stored in a tightly closed container.
Wolf points out that this ingredient is found in many of the food products our children are eating, and the result of this exposure may have led to long-term oxidative stress, DNA damage and a negative impact on blood testosterone levels and sperm production.3
Food Additive May Trigger Oxidative Stress and DNA Damage
Wolf cited a peer-reviewed literature review paper,4 which summarized details including bioavailability and absorption time for the exposure route. As the author of the paper noted, controlled human studies using this known neurotoxin have not been done, so the literature review was limited to laboratory animal studies.
Additionally, the paper reviewed intended and unintended dietary aluminum exposure in the animals since there was considerable and variable aluminum content in animal diets, which creates uncertainty about how the mammals’ reproductive system would function in the absence of aluminum.
He did find that in experimental studies, males experienced a more significant effect to aluminum at lower levels than did females. The author proposed an adverse outcome pathway that included “oxidative stress as the molecular initiating event and increased malondialdehyde, DNA and spermatozoal damage and decreased blood testosterone and sperm count as subsequent key events.”5
Past studies have evaluated the bioavailability of aluminum from drinking water but until 2008,6 there was little evidence of aluminum bioavailability from consumption of sodium aluminum phosphate used as an emulsifying agent in food. Using an animal study, researchers found that both water and food contribute to the typical intake and the results suggested that aluminum intake from food contributed much more to systemic circulation than did drinking water.
According to Michigan State University, the European Food Safety Authority reviewed the safety of sodium aluminum phosphate in 2018 and determined it was “safe to consume in typical quantities.”7 “The Panel concluded that … sodium aluminum phosphate, acidic (E 541) are of no safety concern in the current authorized uses and use levels.”8
The European Food Safety Authority defined the typical quantity, authorized use level or maximum permissible level (MPL) as 400 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of sodium aluminum phosphate. While that might sound like a lot, a 2005 evaluation of selected foods9 found the level of sodium aluminum phosphate could range from 1 to 27,000 mg/kg. Frozen pizza had up to 14 mg/kg, single serving packets of non-dairy creamer had up to 600 mg/kg.
The researchers found acidic sodium aluminum phosphate present in many food products, including pancakes, waffles, baking soda and frozen products. Many contained significant quantities. With the number of foods containing this agent and the number consumed per day, many are exposed to far more than 400 mg/kg from multiple sources and, importantly, aluminum bioaccumulates in the body.10
Aluminum Associated With Multiple System Issues
As Wolf notes, there are no good peer-reviewed human studies since when animal studies show that feeding aluminum damages unborn children, placentas, testes, blood testosterone and sperm, it’s unethical to conduct human trials. This conundrum protects the pharmaceutical industry since they can conclude there are insufficient human studies that demonstrate harm and support withdrawing the product from the market.
Wolf writes11 that the effects of aluminum have aligned with the observed decline of male morphology, including a square jaw, muscle mass and libido in males born after 2000. She suggests that exposure to aluminum may also help explain increasing rates of depression, weight gain and disinterest in sex among young men, which highly correlate with lower levels of testosterone that in turn is associated with exposure to aluminum.
For years I’ve warned that aluminum is a serious neurotoxic hazard likely involved in the rising rates of autism and Alzheimer’s. A 2020 study12 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease strongly linked aluminum exposure to Alzheimer’s after examining the brain tissue of individuals diagnosed with familial Alzheimer’s and who had a specific gene mutation that was known to increase levels of amyloid beta, leading to early onset and more aggressive disease.13
Aluminum levels were compared in the donor tissue against those without neurological disease diagnosis and the researchers found striking differences between the two groups. Donors with the genetic mutation had universally high aluminum content. All samples had some level of aluminum, but 42% of the samples from those with familial Alzheimer’s had pathologically significant levels and the aluminum was primarily co-located with amyloid beta plaques.
As aluminum reaches the systemic circulation, it is distributed to target organs such as the nervous system, skeletal and hematopoietic system.14 Additionally, researchers have linked the bioaccumulation of aluminum to several cancers, including breast cancer and colorectal cancers,15 where it has been linked to a high rate of mutations.
Examination of colon cancer samples showed that aluminum-positive samples had a significant decrease in apoptosis and an increase in the expression of the anti-apoptotic molecule BCL-2.
Aluminum Bioaccumulates From Multiple Sources
Scientists recognize that aluminum can be spread by inhaling aerosols or particles, through the food supply and water supply, in medications, dialysis and infusions.16 Militaries from around the world also routinely disperse tiny bits of aluminum-coated fiberglass and plastic called “chaff” into the air column to shield aircraft and ships from enemy radar.17 Although this has been done for decades, there is no clear evidence that it’s safe for humans or the environment.
The many exposure pathways increase the risk that toxic levels are possible, which induces a variety of effects within the body, including alterations of the immunological system, genotoxicity, inflammation, enzymatic dysfunction, metabolic derangement, necrosis and dysplasia.18 Conditions associated with high levels of aluminum include Crohn’s disease, autism, osteomalacia, oligospermia, breast cancer, pancreatitis, Type 2 diabetes and infertility.
Exposure to aluminum may occur in a variety of ways, but I have warned that a significant source of aluminum exposure, and potentially one of the worst, is vaccines since injecting the product bypasses your body’s natural filtering and detoxification systems.
And, since many of the vaccines that use aluminum as an adjuvant are given in childhood, the potential damage has decades to develop and present clinical symptoms. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,19 an adjuvant is added to vaccines to trigger a stronger immune response in an individual.
Christopher Exley, Ph.D., was the lead investigator in the study linking aluminum to Alzheimer’s disease. In an interview with SciTechDaily, Exley commented:20
“It shows that aluminum and amyloid-beta are intimately woven in neuropathology. Either way, the new research confirms my resolve that within the normal lifespan of humans, there would not be any AD if there were no aluminum in the brain tissue. No aluminum, no AD.”
In her video,21 Wolf mentions that aluminum is in the mRNA shots. In speaking with The Defender, Exley praised her efforts to bring news of the toxic effects to a wider audience but said that aluminum was not used in the MRNA shots as an adjuvant.
While there is no current proof the mRNA shot for COVID contains aluminum,22 the European Medicines Agency has approved the use of other COVID vaccines using complete viruses and a dual adjuvant of aluminum hydroxide-CpG 1018. Shots against COVID-19 are also approved in other countries that contain aluminum adjuvants.
The list of approved vaccines that contain some form of aluminum totals more than 25, and includes those given to children, such as diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine, hepatitis b and haemophilus influenzae type B. Other vaccines that use aluminum include tetanus, pneumococcus, meningococcal type B, hepatitis B and diphtheria and tetanus.
Wolf Labels Aluminum Chemical Warfare
Wolf likens the dropping levels of testosterone, lower sperm counts and changes in male morphology to chemical warfare on men saying, “… one thing that you really want to do to an enemy country before you invade them formally is deplete the men,” adding that this war is targeting “our most vulnerable males, our preadolescent boys — in our school lunchrooms.”
Aluminum is not the only chemical that’s undermining male fertility. As I have reported before, phthalate syndrome is also responsible for mass sterility as researchers have recorded a drop in sperm counts by 59.3% from 1973 to 2011,23 likely in large part due to exposure to chemicals like plastic phthalates.
Shanna Swan, Ph.D. is a reproductive epidemiologist and professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Her book “Countdown” is based on a 2017 study she co-wrote, which found the most significant declines in sperm samples were in men living in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Concentrations were below 40 million per milliliter, which is considered the cutoff at which a man will have trouble fertilizing an egg.24 She also found that as sperm count, testosterone and fertility were dropping, testicular cancer and miscarriage were rising, all at about 1% per year.25
Yet another environmental factor that may play a significant role in declining sperm counts is electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure and radiofrequency radiation from wireless technologies. Research26 has found that men who use their cell phones more than 20 times a day have significantly lower sperm concentrations and sperm counts than those who use them once a week or less.
This places men at a 30% increased risk of having sperm concentration below the reference value for fertility and a 21% increased risk for having total sperm counts below the fertile range.
Tips to Reduce Exposure to Aluminum, Plastic and EMF
Wolf ends her video with a simple plea, “Friends, read the boxes; clear out your cupboards; bake from scratch; and save the hormonal levels of our men.”27 While it can be challenging to make changes, making one new small change every two weeks can lower the stress associated with change and can have a significant impact on your overall health within months.
Phthalates are chemicals included in plastics to make them more durable. There are several steps you can take to reduce your use and exposure to plastics and plasticizers, which I share in “Plastic Is Everywhere Now, Including Your Brain.”
Finally, there are also steps you can take to reduce your exposure to EMF during the day and at night and general steps you can take in your home. As more people are working remotely, you begin to have greater control over your environment, including your exposure to EMF. Consider the steps I share in “EMFs Destroy Sperm Count.”
