Urinary excretion of silicon, the ‘natural’ antagonist to the potential toxicity of aluminum, is decreased in MS and particularly so in secondary progressive form of the disease.

The research suggests that individuals with MS have a higher body burden of aluminum and that their urinary excretion of aluminum is linked to changes taking place during the relapsing-remitting stage of the disease.

Christopher Exley, Birchall Centre for Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Science, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, Staffordshire, said: “If, as is currently believed, MS is a disorder resulting from the interplay between the environment and susceptibility genes then our observation of elevated excretion of iron may be indicative of the latter, while elevated excretion of aluminum suggests that exposure to aluminum may be the hitherto unrecognised environmental factor in MS.”

SOURCE: Keele University Press Release

FOOTNOTE: IUPAC recommends aluminium as the correct spelling for element 13 (Al) but I’ve used the US spelling for the sake of clarity.