Aluminium is one of the most abundant elements in earth’s crust and its manifold uses result in an exposure of the population from many sources. Developmental toxicity, effects on the urinary tract and neurotoxicity are known effects of aluminium and its compounds. Here, we assessed the health risks resulting from total consumer exposure towards aluminium and various aluminium compounds, including contributions from foodstuffs, food additives, food contact materials (FCM), and cosmetic products. For the estimation of aluminium contents in foodstuff, data from the German “Pilot-Total-Diet-Study” were used, which was conducted as part of the European TDS-Exposure project. These were combined with consumption data from the German National Consumption Survey II to yield aluminium exposure via food for adults. It was found that the average weekly aluminium exposure resulting from food intake amounts to approx. 50% of the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 1 mg/kg body weight (bw)/week, derived by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). For children, data from the French “Infant Total Diet Study” and the “Second French Total Diet Study” were used to estimate aluminium exposure via food. As a result, the TWI can be exhausted or slightly exceeded—particularly for infants who are not exclusively breastfed and young children relying on specially adapted diets (e.g. soy-based, lactose free, hypoallergenic). When taking into account the overall aluminium exposure from foods, cosmetic products (cosmetics), pharmaceuticals and FCM from uncoated aluminium, a significant exceedance of the EFSA-derived TWI and even the PTWI of 2 mg/kg bw/week, derived by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, may occur. Specifically, high exposure levels were found for adolescents aged 11–14 years. Although exposure data were collected with special regard to the German population, it is also representative for European and comparable to international consumers. From a toxicological point of view, regular exceedance of the lifetime tolerable aluminium intake (TWI/PTWI) is undesirable, since this results in an increased risk for health impairments. Consequently, recommendations on how to reduce overall aluminium exposure are given.

Globally, the livelihoods of over a billion people are affected by changes to marine ecosystems, both structurally and systematically. Resources and ecosystem services, provided by the marine environment, contribute nutrition, income, and health benefits for communities. One threat to these securities is ciguatera poisoning; worldwide, the most commonly reported non-bacterial seafood-related illness. Ciguatera is caused by the consumption of (primarily) finfish contaminated with ciguatoxins, potent neurotoxins produced by benthic single-cell microalgae. When consumed, ciguatoxins are biotransformed and can bioaccumulate throughout the food-web via complex pathways. Ciguatera-derived food insecurity is particularly extreme for small island-nations, where fear of intoxication can lead to fishing restrictions by region, species, or size. Exacerbating these complexities are anthropogenic or natural changes occurring in global marine habitats, e.g., climate change, greenhouse-gas induced physical oceanic changes, overfishing, invasive species, and even the international seafood trade. Here we provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century regarding the many facets of ciguatera, including the complex nature of this illness, the biological/environmental factors affecting the causative organisms, their toxins, vectors, detection methods, human-health oriented responses, and ultimately an outlook towards the future. Ciguatera research efforts face many social and environmental challenges this century. However, several future-oriented goals are within reach, including digital solutions for seafood supply chains, identifying novel compounds and methods with the potential for advanced diagnostics, treatments, and prediction capabilities. The advances described herein provide confidence that the tools are now available to answer many of the remaining questions surrounding ciguatera and therefore protection measures can become more accurate and routine.