LONDON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- British scientists have found that drinking a well-known mineral water regularly could reduce the levels of aluminium in the bodies of people with Alzheimer's disease, Alpha Galileo, the European science website, reported on Wednesday.

    In a research to demonstrate a simple method whereby individuals with Alzheimer's disease could both limit their absorption of aluminium across the gut and increase their excretion of body aluminium in the urine, a research team at Keele University in Staffordshire asked 10 individuals with Alzheimer's to drink up to 1.5 liter per day of the mineral water, Volvic, for five days as part of their everyday diets and for eight out of the 10 it resulted in a reduction in their body burden of aluminium, according to the report.

    The mineral water contains a high concentration of silicon and the scientist who carried out the research believed that it was the silicon that helped to reduce the body burden of aluminium in the individuals with Alzheimer's disease.

    Dr Chris Exley in the team said because this was a preliminary study involving only 10 individuals and was carried out over only five consecutive days, they do not have any information concerning any influence of drinking the mineral water upon the disease itself only that there were no reported negative side effects.

    However, he said that regular drinking of silicon-rich mineral waters may be a safe and easy way to achieve the lowest possible body burden of aluminium, but a future study is needed to confirm that long term drinking of a silicon-rich mineral water can reduce the body burden of aluminium in Alzheimer's disease.

    In the research, the scientists found no negative side-effects of drinking the mineral water were reported. Enditem