Exposing children to high levels of fluoride is “consistently associated” with lower IQ, and potentially other neurodevelopmental issues, according to a report by the National Toxicology Program (NTP). “This review finds, with moderate confidence, that higher estimated fluoride exposures ..
. are consistently associated with lower IQ in children,” the report stated. NTP is a unit of the U.
S. Department of Health and Human Services. NTP defined high exposure as drinking water with fluoride concentrations that exceed the 1.
5 mg/L limit set by the World Health Organization. The allowable limits in the United States are different. While the U.
S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set a threshold of 0.7 mg/L for fluoride presence in drinking water (including naturally occurring and added fluoride, or fluoridation), the U.
S. Environmental Protection Agency has a limit of 2 mg/L. As of April 2020, community water systems in the United States supplied water containing 1.
5 mg/L or more of naturally occurring fluoride to 0.59 percent of the country’s population, which comes to approximately 1.9 million people, NTP stated.
Around 1 million people were supplied water with 2 mg/L or more of naturally occurring fluoride. “There is also some evidence that fluoride exposure is associated with other neurodevelopmental and cognitive effects in children; although, because of the heterogeneity of the outcomes, there is low confidence in the literature for these other effects,” the report stated. The studies on children’s IQ reviewed in the report were conducted in 10 countries, including Canada and Mexico.
No studies from the United States were included in the review. “We found that each 0.68 milligram per liter increase in fluoride levels in the pregnant women’s urine was associated with nearly double the odds of children scoring in the clinical or borderline clinical range for neurobehavioral problems at age 3, based on their mother’s reporting,” she said.
“The JAMA study should be considered exploratory. To date, the ADA has seen no peer-reviewed research that would change its long-standing recommendation to the public to brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and drink optimally fluoridated water,” the group said. “Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic diseases among children.
There are decades of research and practical experience indicating community water fluoridation is safe and effective in reducing cavities by 25 percent in both children and adults.” It endorsed community water fluoridation as a “safe, beneficial, and cost-effective” way to prevent dental cavities..
