The Fluoride Glut: Sources of Fluoride Exposure

[Guest guest]

Contents of Page

 

 

I. Current Sources of Fluoride

II. Increase in fluoride exposure & dental fluorosisIII. Current dental fluorosis prevalence

IV. Adding Poison to the Wound: EPA's Fluoride Pesticide Tolerances

 

V. Warnings & recommendations (from dental community)

VI. Current fluoridation policy outdated

VII. Complexities with prescribing fluoride in today's environment

 

I. Current Sources of Fluoride (Back to top)

Note: To find out how much fluoride is in the following products,

 

TOOTHPASTEFor data on how much fluoride children ingest from toothpaste, click here .

"Virtually all authors have noted that some children could ingest more fluoride from dentrifice alone than is recommended as a total daily fluoride ingestion." - Levy SM, Guha-Chowdhury N. (1999). Total fluoride intake and implications for dietary fluoride supplementation. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 59: 211-23.

 

FLUORIDATED TAP WATERFor data on the water fluoridation status of each state in the US, click here

"Since [the 1940s], the percent of individuals consuming fluoridated water (in the US) has steadily increased. The increase in percentage of communities with fluoridated water has resulted in an increase in the mean content of fluoride not only in soft drinks and fruit juices, but in canned goods (notably soups), leading to increased intake of fluoride by individuals in communities with nonfluoridated water." - Fomon SJ, Ekstrand J, Ziegler EE. (2000). Fluoride intake and prevalence of dental fluorosis: trends in fluoride intake with special attention to infants. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 60(3):131-9.

"Because the main component of most beverages is water, the fluoride content of these products closely parallels the fluoride content of water used in their processing." - Levy SM, Guha-Chowdhury N. (1999). Total fluoride intake and implications for dietary fluoride supplementation. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 59: 211-23.

"We cannot... ignore water fluoridation as a major source of ingested fluoride." - Heller KE, et al (1997). Dental Caries and Dental Fluorosis at Varying Water Fluoride Concentrations. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 57: 136-143.

 

INFANT FORMULAFor further information on fluoride exposure from infant formula, click here

"nfant formulas reconstituted with higher fluoride water can provide 100 to 200 times more fluoride than breastmilk, or cows milk." - Levy SM, Guha-Chowdhury N. (1999). Total fluoride intake and implications for dietary fluoride supplementation. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 59: 211-23.

"Our analysis shows that babies who are exclusively formula fed face the highest risk; in Boston, for example, more than 60 percent of the exclusively formula fed babies exceed the safe dose of fluoride on any given day." - Environmental Working Group, "EWG Analysis of Government Data Finds Babies Over-Exposed to Fluoride in Most Major U.S. Cities", March 22, 2006.

"[M]ore than 50 percent of infants are currently formula fed by 1 month of age, and these infants are likely to be continuously exposed to high intakes of fluoride for 9 or 10 months - a circumstance quite rare in the 1960s and early 1970s." - Fomon SJ, Ekstrand J. (1999). Fluoride intake by infants. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 59(4):229-34.

"Fluoride is now introduced at a much earlier stage of human development than ever before and consequently alters the normal fluoride-pharmacokinetics in infants. But can one dramatically increase the normal fluoride-intake to infants and get away with it?" - Luke J. (1997). The Effect of Fluoride on the Physiology of the Pineal Gland. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Surrey, Guildford. p. 176.

"Parents should therefore be advised that they may be able to protect their children from dental fluorosis by breastfeeding their infant and by extending the duration for which they breastfeed. When infants are formula-fed, parents should be advised to reconstitute or dilute infant formula with deionized water (reverse osmosis, distilled, or low-fluoride bottled water) in order to reduce the amount of systemically ingested fluoride." - Brothwell D, Limeback H. (2003). Breastfeeding is protective against dental fluorosis in a nonfluoridated rural area of Ontario, Canada. Journal of Human Lactation 19: 386-90.

“Breastfeeding of infants should be encouraged, both for the many documented, general health benefits and the relative protection against ingestion of excessive fluoride from high quantities of intake of fluoridated water used to reconstitute concentrated infant formula early in infancy.” - Levy SL, et al. (1995). Sources of fluoride intake in children. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 55: 39-52.

PROCESSED CEREALS

"[F]ood processing often concentrates fluoride, and foods processed with fluoridated water typically have higher fluoride concentrations than foods processed with non-fluoridated water... A study that found marked differences between cereaals processed in fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas showed that cereals processed in a fluoridated area had fluoride concentrations ranging from 3.8 ppm to 6.3 ppm..." - Warren JJ, Levy SM. (2003). Current and future role of fluoride in nutrition. Dental Clinics of North America 47: 225-43.

"[D]uring manufacturing, infant dry cereals are processed in a slurry and placed in a revolving drying drum. The water from the slurry evaporates, and the fluoride from the water remains in the cereal. Thus, the fluoride concentration of the water used during processing can substantially affect the final fluoride concentration... Infants who eat large quantities of dry infant cereals reconstituted with fluoridated water could ingest substantial quantities of fluoride from this source." - Heilman JR, et al. (1997). Fluoride concentrations of infant foods. Journal of the American Dental Association 128(7):857-63.

JUICEFor published data on fluoride levels in juice, click here

"Our data suggest that young children who regularly or frequently drink substantial quantities of [juice] possibly should not receive dietary fluoride supplements, since they might be at increased risk of developing dental fluorosis." - Kiritsy MC, et al. (1996). Assessing fluoride concentrations of juices and juice-flavored drinks. Journal of the American Dental Association 127(7):895-902.

SODA

"Seventy-one percent of the [sodas] had fluoride levels exceeding 0.60 ppm, which is considered to contain sufficient fluoride so that dietary fluoride supplements are contraindicated."- Heilman JR, et al. (1999). Assessing fluoride levels of carbonated soft drinks. Journal of the American Dental Association 130(11):1593-9.

"Schulz (1976) found that nearly all soft drinks then manufactured in optimally fluoridated Baltimore (1.10 ppm) had fluoride concentrations of 0.8 ppm or greater. Shannon (1977) tested soft drinks manufactured in Houston, Texas... He found that fluoride concentrations... closely matched the fluoride concentrations of the bottling plants' water supplies. This conclusion was also reached in other studies, including the authors' published and unpublished analyses of fluoride concentrations in 332 soft drink products." - Warren JJ, Levy SM. (1999). Systemic fluoride: Sources, amounts, and effects of ingestion. Dental Clinics of North America 43: 695-711.

TEAFor USDA data on fluoride levels in US tea, click here (pdf file).

"Appropriate regulation of the fluoride content of tea commodities should be an urgent matter for public food safety policy." - Cao J, et al. (2004). Fluoride in newer tea commodities. Fluoride 37: 286-300.

"Instant tea, one of the most popular drinks in the United States, may be a source of harmful levels of fluoride... The researchers found that some regular strength preparations contain as much as 6.5 parts per million (ppm) of fluoride, well over the 4 ppm maximum allowed in drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency." - 'Potentially harmful fluoride levels found in some instant tea'', Washington University School of Medicine, January 25, 2005.

"Another important source of fluoride ingestion is tea...[T]he fluoride content of tea has been found to range from 0.1 to 4.2 ppm fluoride, with an average of about 3 ppm." - Levy SM, Guha-Chowdhury N. (1999). Total fluoride intake and implications for dietary fluoride supplementation. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 59: 211-23.

"[M]ost of the iced teas studied contained considerable fluoride concentrations. If infants ingest larger amounts of them because of their sweet taste, there is a risk of uncontrolled overdosing as a result of additional fluoride intake from other sources at the same time. " - Behrendt A, Oberste V, Wetzel WE. (2002). Fluoride concentration and pH of iced tea products. Caries Research 36(6): 405-410.

"The average fluoride concentration of infusions prepared from decaffeinated (green & black) tea in this study is 3.19 ppm and ranged from 1.01 to 5.20. This is unexpectedly higher than caffeinated tea and such a difference is statistically significant. If decaffeinated tea were prepared with optimally fluoridated water, the fluoride content would be increased by 1 ppm and would reach an average of 4.19 ppm." - Chan JT, Koh SH. (1996). Fluoride content in caffeinated, decaffeinated and herbal teas. Caries Research 30:88-92.

WINEFor USDA data on fluoride levels in Californian wines,

"[A]nalyses of nineteen California wines revealed fluoride concentrations ranging from 0.23 to 2.80 ppm (mean 1.02 ppm, with seven samples above the international limit of 1 ppm)." - Burgstahler AW, et al. (1997). Fluoride in California wines and raisins. Fluoride 30: 142-146.

"Researchers from California State University in Fresno conducted a 5 year study (1990-1994) on vineyards throughout the San Joaquin Valley. They found that '[m]ultiple applications of Cryolite during the growing season significantly increase fluoride in wines.' Notably they found fluoride levels between 3 - 6 ppm in Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc, Thompson Seedless, Barbera, Muscat Candi, Ruby Cabernet; and levels between 6 - <9 ppm in French Colombard and Zinfandel... At 6 ppm one glass of wine (175 ml) would have delivered as much fluoride as about a liter of optimally fluoridated water!" - Connett E, Connett P. (2001). Fluoride: The Hidden Poison in the National Organic Standards. Pesticides and You 21: 18-22.

BEER

"Beers brewed in locations with high fluoride water levels may contribute significantly to the daily fluoride intake, particularly in alcohol misusing subjects and this may contribute to alcohol-associated bone disease." - Warnakulasuriya S, et al. (2002). Fluoride content of alcoholic beverages. Clinica Chimica Acta 320: 1-4.

"Soda pop and beer bottled with fluoridated water contain 0.7 to 1 ppm fluoride; consumption of these beverages is almost certainly more variable among individuals than consumption of water... If beer contains 0.7 ppm fluoride, heavy beer-drinkers may ingest more than 4 mg daily from beer alone." - Groth, E. (1973), Two Issues of Science and Public Policy: Air Pollution Control in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Fluoridation of Community Water Supplies. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, May 1973.

MECHANICALLY DEBONED CHICKEN

"[F]oods made with mechanically separated chicken have the potential to be a major contributor to total fluoride intake... Fluoride contributed by foods made with mechanically separated chicken could increase the risk of mild dental fluorosis for children less than eight years of age when combined with other sources of fluoride exposure." - Fein NJ, Cerklewski FL. (2001). Fluoride content of foods made with mechanically separated chicken. Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry 49(9):4284-6.

"[W]e found that infant foods containing chicken were high in fluoride. Thus, any infants who regularly eat more than a couple of ounces of infant foods containing high-fluoride-content chicken would be at elevated fluorosis risk." - Heilman JR, et al. (1997). Fluoride concentrations of infant foods. Journal of the American Dental Association 128(7):857-63.

FISH/SEAFOOD

"Food categories with the highest mean fluoride levels were fish [2.118 ppm], beverages [1.148 ppm], and soups [0.606 ppm]. Individual samples with the highest fluoride levels were tea [4.97 ppm], canned fish [4.57 ppm], shellfish [3.36 ppm], cooked veal [1.23 ppm], and cooked wheat cereal [1.02 ppm]." - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) (2001). Toxicological Profile for Fluorides: Draft Profile for Public Comment. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Public Health Service