# Aluminum cans?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-cans/45451
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 14, 2000, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-cans/45451 "2000-12-14T01:47:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2000, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-cans/45451/1 "2000-12-14T01:47:48Z")
Is it true that drinking out of aluminum cans can actually transfer the metal from the can to your body?
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### Author:  [@softy\_softy\_catchy\_monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/softy_softy_catchy_monkey)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2000, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-cans/45451/2 "2000-12-14T02:05:22Z")
If you have an open can of something acidic, like leftover tomato paste, it can corrode the lead alloy in the seam, and the salts produced will indeed enter the food, and create a health hazard.
Why this doesn’t happen in unopened cans, however, has always puzzled me.
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### Author:  [@softy\_softy\_catchy\_monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/softy_softy_catchy_monkey)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2000, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-cans/45451/3 "2000-12-14T02:08:13Z")
Oops. Saw the word “aluminum” but it didn’t register.
Aluminum is more stable, and there’s usually no seam, but they still coat the inside of the can because some metal/metalic salts can be produced.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2000, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-cans/45451/4 "2000-12-14T03:34:24Z")
[Why Doesn’t Coke Dissolve the Can?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_222a.html)
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2000, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-cans/45451/5 "2000-12-14T07:08:33Z")
It probably can get aluminum into you in trace amounts, but it’s nothing to worry about. Unlike heavy metals (lead, arsenic, mercury, etc.), which are harmful in any form, aluminum is only believed to be harmful in elemental form, if at all. Anything in the can that manages to get aluminum loose from the can walls is likely to do so by chemically reacting with it, so what you’ll actually get is some sort of aluminum compound. We’re exposed to those all the time (it’s the third most common element in the Earth’s crust), so it’s probably safe to say that the body can handle them.