Fluoride has been added to drinking water since the 1950’s to help improve dental health. Recent studies have shown that you may want to question the serious health effects of this substance for yourself and for your children.

What is fluoride and do you need it?

Fluoride does occur naturally (fluorine) but it is typically found as one of three man-made chemicals (sodium fluoride, fluorosilicic acid, or sodium fluorosilicate) added to the water supply to supposedly prevent cavities and, therefore, the health issues that arise from decayed teeth. Fluoride is a colourless, tasteless, odorless additive and is not a substance that is required for good health.

Fluoridated water is a medicine!

Water is essential for life. The water that we drink is often treated with chemicals such as chlorine to make it safe for consumption. When a non-essential substance like fluoride is added to drinking water it becomes a ‘medicine’ that everyone consumes in similar amounts regardless of age, weight or health. Consider that a baby, drinking formula made with tap water, consumes over 200 hundred times as much fluoride as a baby who is breast fed, and could consume as much fluoride as an adult drinking the same amount of water. Would you want your child or elderly parent to ingest a chemical in amounts that you have no control over?

What can fluoride do to your body?

Studies have shown that fluoride causes neurological damage and is even known as a developmental ‘neurotoxin’, neither of which would you chose for your children or yourselves. Fluoride causes memory and learning disabilities as well as unwanted behavior changes. Forty-two out of forty-nine studies found that elevated fluoride exposure creates a significant 7-point drop in IQ.

Points to consider for your child’s health

• An infant’s blood-brain barrier is not fully deveoped leaving them vulnerable to exposure to toxins
• Infants and toddlers have a higher fluid intake to body weight ratio than do adults
• Infants and toddlers bodies absorb more chemicals than adult’s bodies do

Many countries around the world have discontinued adding fluoride to their drinking water due to health concerns and lack of effectiveness in preventing tooth decay. In fact when the World Health Organisation compared tooth decay in both fluoridated and non-fluoridated countries they both showed a similar decline in the rate of tooth decay, ultimately showing that added fluoride was not helpful. If fluoride isn’t necessary, does not truly improve dental health and could cause health concerns perhaps its use should be questioned. ‘Ask a Naturopath’ about ways to avoid fluoride and keep your teeth and body healthy.