2 replies to this topic

[evo]

I thought I would post this here as I found the evidence compelling, but could not locate any quality stats on diabetes/metabolic-syndrome pre-1970s.  Before getting into the details, it's worth noting that there's a lot of conspiracy theorists and nut-jobs blaming fluoride for everything from autism to alzheimers.  Hopefully we can avoid such baseless discussion here, and focus solely on facts and evidence.

Since 1965 the US has been up-regulating fluoride in most water supplies to the "optimal" level of 1mg/L (you can verify this on your local government website).  After discovering some studies related to hypothyroidism, it seems that chronic exposure to fluoride in those with compromised thyroid function (or those with insufficient dietary iodine intake) can result in deleterious effects at doses between 0.01 - 0.05mg/kg of body mass (and around 0.15-0.3mg/kg in healthy individuals).

Now, the RDA for water is roughly 3L, which would be roughly 3mg of fluoride.  This would be completely fine for most people, but assuming an average weight of 70kg, the safe dose of fluoride for those with insufficient iodine intake and/or compromised thyroid function would be around 0.7mg.

Considering that the American diet is typically deficient in iodine, it seems like there should be evidence of a significant positive trend in hypothyroidism, diabetes, and metabolic syndrom since the introduction of regulated fluoridation.

Unfortunately the introduction of processed foods and fructose-derived syrups has led to an exponential rise of these conditions in recent years making this variable harder to measure, but I'm still curious as to whether fluoridation could be a statistically-significant factor at least somewhat responsible for the American obesity epidemic.

Anyone have any data or ideas on how to prove/disprove the correlation?

Edited by lmlj, 01 August 2012 - 01:45 AM.

[Turnbuckle]

It's amazing to me that the government still adds this poison to drinking water when the real cure for cavities is strontium. I've been using a solution of strontium chloride as a mouthwash once a week for more than a decade and haven't had a cavity in all that time.

Edit: Though in searching this, it seems that there may be a synergy between strontium and fluoride:

Quote

Strontium alone did not improve the remineralization of artificial caries lesions under the chosen in vitro conditions. However, a synergistic effect between the combination of fluoride and strontium was found at specific concentrations.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/22670259

I was, however, using a high concentration strontium as a mouthwash as compared to a very low concentration in drinking water used in the study. Nevertheless, I can't say that fluoride didn't play a part because I drink the government's water and use toothpaste that has fluoride in it.

Edited by Turnbuckle, 01 August 2012 - 02:32 AM.

[Chupo]

Fluoride in my local water is .150 -.211 ppm. It's listed as a contaminant. I usually drink bottled water anyway.  Vitamin K2 is also great for the teeth.