Nichel: the friend-enemy of all

Let’s see together what it is, where it is and why the nichel can be a friend-enemy for our health. We often speak about nichel free and to be careful about the nichel inside food, could it be even a precious friend? Sometimes yes . 

What is the nichel?

Wikipedia says us that the nichel is “the chemical element with the atomic number 28, which symbol is Ni”. The name of this element comes from the swedish name Nickel, which was back in time linked with forest creatures as goblins or with restless guys.

We started to use it to build materials and objects that could be basically realized with silver. Infact, its colour remember the one of the precious metal mostly used for the realization of pipes or jewels. 

Afterwards, because it is a silverly metal easily foundable it was used to realize coins (it isn’t a case that the british pennies are even called nickels).

Allergies

Unfortunatelly the allergies is a sector that is growning. Ever often we find new kinds of allergies that make people sick.

For the nichel we can say that the exposition to it is inevitable. Infact, it’s everywhere in nature: inside the water, in the soil, in the air and inside all the living beings, because they eat what comes from soil and water.

But that’s not all: the nichel is inside the kitchenware, the makeup, the fertilizers, the dental bridges, inside the industrial processing, as we said before even inside the jewels.

Even some food can have the nichel, so it is very common to keep in contact with this substance, even if we don’t know it. 

Negative effects of the nichel on the body

Unfortunatelly, the long and continued exposition to the nichel can have collateral effects. An example are the skin rashes on our body after that we wore something with it. 

Apart from the contact there are even the digestive problems if we ate something that contains too much of this metal. An example? Ulcer, nausea or colitis.

A not controlled diet where there is a massive presence of this element can bring even to autoimmune diseased, like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or the Crohn disease.

Unfortunatelly the nichel runs out even the zinc resources of our body, for this reason it is considered toxic for the body. But how to limit the exposition to this material if it is everywhere?

A solution can be the one to better read the labels on the food that we buy and to start a healthier diet, with low nichel. Another thing that we can do is to not wear fake silver jewels and to control that the kitchenware that we buy aren’t made with this metal.

It isn’t only an enemy for our health

The nichel isn’t only an enemy for our health. As material it is a great ally for the building of spare parts for every kind of device and even for some pieces of our cars. This is because it is light, magnetic and because it easily conduct the electricity.

Between the positive characteristics of the nichel there are even the high corrosion proof. Which is the reason because it is often used inside the insulating coating for the roofs of the houses or for the pipes. 

For these reasons, there is a process called nickel plating that sees this silver metal under the shape of a chemistry substance used to cover materials like aluminium. The nickel planting consists to put on the surfact of a metal object a layer of nichel and phosphorus through chemical reactions. An important coating that helps the surfaces to increase their life, improve their aesthetic and increase the grip. 

So, the nichel is a friend-enemy of the human being. As well as everything, it is good to know it and to use it at its best.

This post is also available in: Italiano