Naturally, water always contains fluorides. Fluoridation consists of voluntarily increasing the fluoride concentration in drinking water, and this is why we talk about the dangers of fluoride in water.
Fluoride accumulates in the body, mainly in calcified tissues such as bone and pineal gland. Fluoridation is one of the easiest threats to eliminate. It’s as easy as closing a valve in the treatment plant. But to close the gate, there is a need for political will, and to achieve this, well-informed and organized staff are needed.
I – What Is Fluoride?
Fluoride is a trace element that does not exist in its pure state in nature. It is always accompanied by other chemical compounds. Thus, it is more advisable to talk about fluorides rather than fluoride.
The Dangers of Fluoride in Water – Fluoride Is a Toxic and Reactive Element
Exposure to fluoride in humans goes almost unnoticed. Compounds with fluoride are used as an additive in toothpaste, mouthwashes, dietary supplements and fluoride polymer surfaces – non-stick in pans and razors -; and also in the use of compounds that contain it: industrial compounds, fertilizers, glass, oil refineries, fluorinated hydrocarbons, and others.
If fluoride is released into the air, it is a pollutant; spilled into a river, it is a pollutant; spilled into a lake is a pollutant.
A significant proportion of fluoride in the body comes from its exposure and consumption of certain foods with high natural fluoride intake, such as tea, sea fish, meat, eggs, fruits, and cereals. However, it is water, usually consumed as a drink, the main source of absorption of this element. This reason is why it is worth mention the dangers of fluoride in water.
The water containing the highest concentration of fluoride corresponds to water resources in mountainous areas or areas with marine geological deposits, as in Southeast Asia and North-West Africa. Studies over the past 15 years have shown that a significant proportion of people in populations exposed to fluoridation of drinking water have health damage and varying degrees of fluorosis.
Fluoridation of Water Is Under Control
Fluoridation of water is the controlled addition of fluoride (fluoride) ions into the public drinking water system to reduce the risk of tooth decay. In the United States, this practice began in 1945 and was officially promoted by the Public Health Service in 1950. Water fluoridation has always been a means disguised by the industry to get rid of a byproduct toxic.
Very few nations have ended up implementing this practice at a significant level. Only eight nations in the world have more than 50% of the drinking water in their artificially fluoridated countries, these are Australia, Colombia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States. -United. In Europe, only Ireland (73% of its fluorinated population), the United Kingdom (10%) and Spain (10%) add fluoride for their water supplies. In the United States, about 70% of the population ingests fluoridated water; that’s about 200 million people and almost half of all people who intentionally take fluoridated water around the world.
Some countries have high levels of fluoride in the water naturally. Among them are China, India and some countries in Africa. In these locations, fluoride removal measures from drinking water are taken because of the negative consequences this can cause to the human body.
II – Human Body and the Dangers of Fluoride in Water
The chemicals used in the fluoridation of drinking water are not pharmaceutical. The vast majority comes from cleaning systems in the phosphate fertilizer industry. These chemicals – 90% of which are sodium fluosilicate and fluorosilicic acid – are classified as hazardous contaminant waste with various impurities.
The dose cannot be controlled. By adding fluoride in drinking water, it is impossible to adjust the dose for each individual, since everyone consumes different amounts of water. Controlling the dose of the patient is essential. Some people – for example, workers, athletes, diabetics, and people with kidney disease – drink a lot more water than others.
The main route of the introduction of fluoride into the human body is digestive; 90% of the fluoride ingested is absorbed in the stomach. In adults, about 10% of the absorbed fluoride is deposited in the bones, while in children it is fixed at 50%. The highest concentration of fluoride in the plasma is observed 30 to 60 minutes after ingestion.
In the neonate, nearly 90% of the absorbed fluoride is retained in the bone system. This affinity decreases with age and stabilizes. In children, about 50% of the absorbed fluoride attaches to the skeleton at the end of the development phase and the remaining 50% is excreted by the kidneys.
Currently, people consume fluoride from a wide variety of sources, in addition to drinking water. Fluoridated water is not the only way people are exposed to fluoride. Other sources of fluoride include foods and beverages treated with fluoridated water, fluoridated dental products, mechanically deboned meat, tea, and pesticide residues in foods.
Fluoride Levels in Breast Milk Are Very Low
This means that a baby fed with a baby bottle ingests up to 300 times more fluoride than a breastfed baby.
Babies fed formula milk receive higher doses of fluoride. Because of their need to consume foods using the liquid form, formula-fed babies have the highest exposure, by weight, of the population. There is no benefit, only risk, for babies who ingest these high levels of fluoride at an early age, a stage where sensitivity to environmental toxins is particularly high.
Fluoride accumulates in the body. Healthy adults excrete about 50 to 60% of the fluoride consumed daily by the kidneys. The rest accumulates in the body, mainly in calcified tissues such as bone and pineal gland.
Babies and children excrete less fluoride through their kidneys and retain 80% of the fluoride ingested in their bones. The concentration of fluoride in the bones increases continuously during the course of life.
III – Effects of Fluoride on Health
Fluoride is not an essential nutrient. An illness has never been linked to a deficiency of fluoride. Fluoride has never been shown to be necessary to maintain a caries-free dentition. There is no vital function that has been demonstrated requiring fluoride consumption. The fluoride acts on reducing caries on the outside of the tooth, not on the inside of the body. Fluoride does not play any biological role in the human body; it is not involved in any cellular or enzymatic function.
In the dental field, the WHO insists on not exceeding a dose of 0.05 mg/kg/ day. The major danger for the child, as for the adult, is called dental fluorosis. Dental problems can continue with skeletal complications (osteoporosis), delayed growth and kidney and especially mental deterioration.
On the contrary, there is abundant evidence that fluoride can interfere with many vital functions. Fluoride interferes with many enzymes. In combination with aluminum, fluoride interferes with G-proteins. This type of interaction gives protein complexes of aluminum fluoride the possibility of interfering with growth rate, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Several studies show that fluoride can significantly hinder the biochemistry of the body.
*** The Most Common Diseases and Symptoms Due to the Ingestion of Fluoride Toxicants Are:
– Dental fluorosis: loss of tooth enamel, presenting a brown appearance.
– De-mineralization of the bones leading to osteoporosis and fractures of the hips.
– Central nervous system disorder causing hyperactivity, mental, lack of concentration and lowering of IQ. Also the loss of memory.
– Seriously affects the mental development of children and their bone growth.
– Cancer
IV – The Dangers of Fluoride to the Brain of Children
Fluorides have the ability to interfere with brain functions. Currently, there are more than 100 animal studies showing that fluoride can damage the brain and have effects on learning and behavior. Silicon fluoride increases the amount of lead in children’s blood.
Fluoride is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and cause biochemical and functional changes in the nervous system during pregnancy, as fluoride accumulates in brain tissue before birth.
Exposure to fluoride during embryonic development is related to learning disabilities. In this sense, other research has mentioned that there is an association between the consumption of high levels of fluoride and a decrease in intelligence in children.
Fluoride exerts a specific effect on protein synthesis in the brain, leading to degenerative changes in neurons, loss to varying degrees of gray matter, and changes in Purkinje cells of the cerebellar cortex.
*** The Effects
– Swelling of mitochondria
– Granular endoplasmic reticulum
– Chromatin grouping
– Damage in the nuclear membrane
– Decreased number of synapses and synaptic vesicles, mitochondria, microtubules
– Damage to the synaptic membrane
These changes indicate that fluoride may retard growth and cell division in the cortex and that the lower number of mitochondria, microtubules, and vesicles in the synaptic terminal may decrease the efficiency of neuronal connections and produce abnormal synaptic function and influence cognitive development during postnatal life.
Fluoride can reduce IQ. So far, there are 24 studies from China, India, Iran, and Mexico reporting an association between fluoride exposure and reduction in the intellectual coefficient. These studies conclude that exposure to high levels of fluoride is related to reduced cognitive ability in children. The average IQ measured is lower in the most exposed children.
The decrease in IQ is not the only neurotoxic effect that can result from exposure to fluoride. At least three human studies have shown an association between fluoride exposure and visuospatial deficiency.
*** Other Effects
– Fluoride affects the pineal gland.
The pineal gland is a major site of fluoride accumulation in the body, it accumulates at very high levels. The production of melatonin is decreased, leading to early puberty.
The pineal gland is located between the cerebral hemispheres. It is responsible for releasing the hormone melatonin, essential in the regulation of the biorhythm.
– Fluoride affects the function of the thyroid.
Symptoms of hypothyroidism include depression, fatigue, weight gain, muscle and bone pain, increased cholesterol levels, and heart disease.
– Fluoride causes arthritic symptoms.
Some of the symptoms of the onset of fluorosis (a disease of bones and joints that affects millions of people in India, China, and Africa), are similar to the symptoms of arthritis.
Fluoridation is not necessary. Most Western industrialized nations rejected fluoridation and yet the same low rates of tooth decay were shown as in countries with fluoridation.
Fluoridation of drinking water has failed to prevent the oral health crisis, resulting from extreme poverty, malnutrition, and lack of access to dental care.
V – Harvard Study Confirms Fluoride Reduces Children’s IQ
“Developmental Fluoride Neurotoxicity: A systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” by Choi Al, Sun G, Zhang Y, Grandjean P, a meta-analysis published in 2012 by Harvard University and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) , concluded that children living in areas with highly fluoridated water have IQ scores “significantly lower” compared to those living in areas with low fluoride.
To summarize the available literature, the researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies on increased fluoride exposure through drinking water and neurodevelopmental delays. The results of the meta-analyses of 27 studies published over the last 22 years suggest an inverse association between high fluoride exposure and children’s intelligence.
The results suggest that fluoride is a neurotoxicant in children’s brain development at doses well below those that can cause toxicity in adults.
To support the plausibility of their findings, rats were exposed to water containing 1 ppm of fluoride (50 Smol / L) for one year showed morphological alterations in the brain and increased levels of aluminum in brain tissue compared to controls. In conclusion, the results confirm the possibility of adverse effects of fluoride exposure on the neurological development of children.
Fluoride can also increase manganese uptake, which aggravates the problems with manganese in drinking water which is also related to lower IQ in children. We all love our children, so it is worth mention the dangers of fluoride in water even because of them.
*** Sources of Fluoride
– The toothpaste
– Tap water: Although tap water and bottled mineral water from all countries do not necessarily carry fluoride. However, it is also necessary to take into account the level of chlorine which is indicated by the abbreviation Cl. This must indicate less than 10 mg / l.
– Pesticides: foods also have fluoride.
– Tea leaves grow best in high fluoride lands.
– Certain fruit juice concentrates are used to make fruit juices, as well as the water used for these juices.
VI – Prevention
Fluoride poisoning can be prevented or it can be minimized:
– Using alternative sources of water
– By removing excess fluoride in the water
– By improving the nutritional status of populations at risk.
There are two methods to remove fluoride in water:
*** Flocculation
The technique of Nalgonda, the name of the village in India where the method was carried out. The method consists of adding alum in the water to be treated causing the precipitation of fluoride. The process is most effective if it is done in alkaline conditions, adding lime, which also serves as a disinfectant. After stirring the tank, the chemical elements are coagulated and precipitated at the bottom of the container, because they are heavier than water. The treated water is removed to the surface without stirring the bottom.
*** Adsorption
The other system consists of filtering the water through a column condensed with an adsorbent, such as activated alumina, activated charcoal or ion exchange resins. This method is also suitable for small communities and their use in the home.
When the adsorbent becomes saturated with the fluoride ions, the filter material must be washed with a weak acid and removed with an alkaline solution. The wash effluent is rich in fluoride and must be carefully removed to prevent groundwater contamination.
Houses are more suitable for filtering small amounts of water designed solely for drinking, but a widespread and efficient service system requires that filters be replaced or regenerated at the right time. Technology is only part of the problem; the community, in addition to the necessary chemicals, must train the personnel performing the task, so implementation is more difficult.
*** Detoxification
– Magnesium inhibits the uptake of fluoride by cells and calcium removes calcium fluorides from tissues. Eating foods containing both – such as pineapple, melon, oats, avocado, banana, tangerine – is a solution to start the process of detoxification.
– Iodine increases the urinary excretion of sodium fluoride from the body, changing the form of calcium fluoride. In this process, calcium is lost, so it is necessary to supplement it by consuming foods rich in calcium. Green leafy vegetables and high quality (dark) organic algae are highly recommended.
– Tamarind has been used in Ayurvedic medicine: the fruit pulp, bark, and leaves become infusions and tinctures, with the possibility of eliminating fluoride in the urine.
– Diet to detoxify the liver can be very effective at removing fluorides and other toxins.
– The sauna helps to clean the adipose tissue. To complete the process, it is necessary to drink a lot of fluoride-free water to replace the water lost through perspiration.
– Vitamin C in abundance is useful in any detox program. The best food sources are berries, citrus, asparagus, avocado, melons, pineapple, vegetables (such as spinach) and cruciferous (such as broccoli, cabbage, kale).
It is recommended to examine the geographical location of a given population and the quality of the water consumed in order to take preventive measures for its use. In areas where the fluoride concentration is greater than 0.7 mg / l, the consumption of drinking water, fluoride salt, the use of toothpaste, and articles containing fluoride should be avoided.
*** How to Avoid Intoxication with Fluoride?
The first step is to consume water of quality, drink, and cook. Pure water is that which is not contaminated by organic compounds of chlorine, fluoride, heavy and toxic metals, and xenoestrogens (endocrine disruptors). It is colorless, transparent, and odorless. In addition, it must have other properties, such as a pH alkalinity greater than 7.5.
Avoid taking water in plastic containers because of dioxin, bisphenol-A, and other bisphenols.
Use an herbal mouthwash. It is not only more effective, but it strengthens the body without contaminating it. An alternative or supplement to oral hygiene is sodium bicarbonate.
Buy organic and locally grown food whose origin is known. Foods made with soy milk, grape juice, and instant tea contain high concentrations of sodium fluoride, as well as many medications.