Many people enjoy eating vermicelli, some even consuming a large bowl at once or relying on it as a staple food to satisfy hunger. In fact, this eating habit is not scientific. During the processing of vermicelli, about 0.5% alum is added to the slurry. This alum rarely separates from the slurry and, as the vermicelli takes shape and dries, its alum content only increases. It is well-known that alum contains a significant amount of aluminum salts, making vermicelli an aluminum-rich food. Therefore, consuming large amounts of vermicelli leads to a high intake of aluminum.
The toxicity of aluminum to the human body is multifaceted. As early as 1989, the World Health Organization officially classified aluminum as a food contaminant and called for strict control. According to scientific tests, the permissible daily intake of aluminum is 1 milligram per kilogram of body weight. Furthermore, measurements show that we can ingest about 4 milligrams of aluminum from our daily use of aluminum tableware, and regularly consuming aluminum-rich foods can lead to an intake of over 10 milligrams. Based on these figures, you can roughly calculate that the upper limit of vermicelli a person can consume daily is very small. Using vermicelli as a staple food is undoubtedly a form of "slow suicide."
For the elderly, aluminum can more easily lead to senile dementia, so they should try to avoid eating it.