Leading cancer surgeon reveals if packing food in aluminium foil can cause cancer: ‘Bhai sahab fast food se dariye’

Experts advise against cooking with aluminum at high heat or storing acidic foods, but stress that aluminum is not a heavy metal or carcinogen.

Consumers are raising alarms over the aluminum foil their meals arrive in, fearing exposure to “heavy metals” and a resulting cancer risk. But experts say the panic is misplaced. Aluminum, widely used in cookware and packaging, is neither a heavy metal nor a known carcinogen—and most people ingest far less of it than they think. This story breaks down the science, the misconceptions, and the simple precautions that actually matter.

Dr Jayesh Sharma, a leading oncologist and cancer surgeon based out of Raipur, shared a video on social media on Tuesday, shedding light on the issue. He wrote in his caption, “Hot Roti in Aluminium foil. Safe or Toxic? 🤔 We use it every day for packing lunch and storing food. But there are rumors that heating aluminum makes it leach into our food and damage our kidneys. So, is your favorite kitchen staple secretly harming you? Let’s check the facts.”

“So I have this friend who orders fast food every day. It comes wrapped in aluminum foil. Then he starts complaining, ‘Look, they’re giving us food wrapped in heavy metal. If this doesn’t cause cancer, what will?’ Now the genuine question is: why is aluminum used in utensils and foil at all?”

1. It is one of the most common metals found on Earth.

2. It is very lightweight. It is not a heavy metal. Some heavy metals are lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, tin, thallium, vanadium, antimony, bismuth.

3. It doesn’t react with most things, and it doesn’t react easily with food either. That’s why only a tiny amount enters the food. And even that small amount is barely absorbed by the body. Whatever gets absorbed is removed by the kidneys. It does not accumulate in the body because it isn’t a heavy metal.

“Yes, aluminum can have toxicity, but there is no risk of cancer from it. It is not listed as a carcinogen. If an average Indian consumes 60–80 mg of aluminum, it doesn’t cause any problem—and even reaching that amount through regular food is quite difficult,” the doctor said.

3 precautions if you want to limit aluminum use:

* Don’t cook in aluminum vessels on very high heat.

* Don’t cook very sour or acidic food in them.

* Don’t store acidic items in aluminum containers for long periods.

"If you store pickles in aluminum containers, even your grandmother would scold you," he said.

At the end, one should be more worried about what they are eating rather than what they are eating it in. “Blaming aluminum for cancer is like a smoker blaming the foil his cigarette is packed in rather than the cigarette itself. So be afraid of fast food, not aluminum,” Dr Jayesh wrote.

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.

This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.