The troubling question on everyone's lips as scientists warn fluoride put in water to protect teeth could spark depression
- Researchers have said the mineral could cause depression and weight gain
- Brain impairment, kidney disease, bone disorders are possible side-effects
- Public Health England has assured people that 'water fluoridation' is safe
By JOHN NAISH FOR THE DAILY MAIL
How safe is our tap water? It has long been a source of national pride that we can drink straight from our taps without trepidation.
But mounting scientific evidence shows that well-intentioned efforts to make our water healthier - by adding fluoride to prevent tooth decay - may actually be having serious long-term effects on our health.
Scientists warn that the risks of this controversial public health policy include brain impairment in children, liver and kidney disease, crippling bone disorders and, ironically, disfigured teeth.
Investigators also argue that fluoridation does not bring significant benefits over other health initiatives, such as encouraging children and adults to brush their teeth properly.
Scientists warn that the risks of 'water fluoridation' include brain impairment in children, liver and kidney disease, crippling bone disorders and, ironically, disfigured teeth
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Scientists warn that the risks of 'water fluoridation' include brain impairment in children, liver and kidney disease, crippling bone disorders and, ironically, disfigured teeth
Yesterday, a new danger was added to the risk list when researchers at the University of Kent warned that the mineral may be responsible for causing depression, weight gain and tiredness.
They argue that these debilitating symptoms are the result of hypothyroidism — the failure of the thyroid gland to produce hormones that regulate the metabolism. Their study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, says that areas of England with water fluoridation are linked to rates of hypothyroidism 30 per cent higher than expected.
The watchdog Public Health England moved to assure people that 'the totality of evidence, accumulated over decades of research, tells us that water fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure, and shows no association with reduced thyroid function'.
Fluoride in water is 'linked to thyroid problem which causes...
But Professor Stephen Peckham, who led the new study, said that instead of putting more fluoride in our water, the policy should be reversed: 'Consideration needs to be given to reducing fluoride exposure,' he said.
That may not be so easily done. More than five-and-a-half million of us already have tap water artificially fluoridated to the 'optimum' level of one part per million parts of water (1ppm), according to the British Fluoridation Society (BFS).
Areas of the country with fluoridation schemes include Cumbria, Cheshire, Tyneside, Northumbria, Durham, Humberside, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, the West Midlands and Bedfordshire.
A further 330,000 people drink supplies that are naturally fluoridated by rocks in the ground to the level of 1ppm — including residents of Hartlepool and Easington in the North East of England, Uttoxeter in Staffordshire and parts of North Hampshire and South Berkshire.
(Other parts of Britain, which are not artificially fluoridated and have low natural levels of fluoride in local rocks, see concentrations of 0.1ppm or even lower in their drinking water.)
Dangerous
That's about one in ten of the population exposed to the 1ppm fluoride level, says the BFS, which promotes the treatment of UK water.
The medicinal use of fluorides for the prevention of dental decay began in January 1945 when community water supplies in Grand Rapids, America, were fluoridated to 1ppm. But health concerns have meant that in recent years that level has been reduced in the U.S. to 0.7ppm.
Nonetheless, politicians and dentists here are pushing for more of us to have our water supplemented to that 1ppm level.
Only last month, leaders at the Royal College of Surgeons' faculty of dental surgery published a report saying greater fluoridation would cut the admission to hospital annually of some 26,000 children aged between five and nine for tooth decay. 'Water fluoridation is one way of overcoming that,' said the faculty's dean, professor Nigel Hunt.
In December, Labour shadow health secretary Andy Burnham pledged to make a priority of adding fluoride to water if his party wins the Election. 'It's a simple way to improve the health of children. There is no evidence it damages health,' he argued.
Public Health England moved to assure people that 'the totality of evidence, accumulated over decades of research, tells us that water fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure
Public Health England moved to assure people that 'the totality of evidence, accumulated over decades of research, tells us that water fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure
Certainly, it's recognised by the NHS that fluoride disrupts the process of decay by making enamel more resistant to acid attack — which is the cause of rotting teeth — and reducing plaque bacteria's ability to produce acid. The mineral also strengthens enamel in children's growing teeth.
However, if a chemical affects the human body in one way, it is almost certainly bound to change other things. And it is these side-effects that particularly alarm some scientists.
It is also worth noting that the mineral which occurs naturally in water is calcium fluoride, while the chemical used to supplement levels of water is sodium fluoride — which critics say can be more dangerous to health.
As well as specifically physical side-effects related to fluoridation, there are also concerns over its effect on our brains.
A 2012 analysis of previous studies found strong indications that fluoride supplementation may hinder children's intellectual development, causing on average a drop of seven IQ points.
Crippling
Fluoride in water may also harm internal organs. A Polish laboratory study found evidence of liver damage that seems to have been caused by the fluoride interfering with the way our bodies use antioxidants to defend against tissues breaking down.
There are also suspected links with kidney disease. One study has found an association between high levels of fluoride in the water and painful kidney stones, which were four times more common than in a similar area without high fluoride, researchers found.
The most obvious evidence of harm from fluoride supplementation is dental fluorosis, where teeth become mottled and discoloured by over-exposure. It is also possible that chronic bone disease skeletal fluorosis can be caused by ingesting large amounts of fluoride, which can lead to crippling arthritis, bone fractures and muscle weakness.
In response to the established risks, it is recommended by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency that an adult does not consume more than 3-4mg of fluoride per day — the equivalent of drinking three to four litres of water with 1ppm fluoride (the UK has established no maximum RDA of fluoride).
But it is more complicated than that. The dangers from exposure to fluoride have been increased over the past few years as the mineral has increasingly been added to commercial products — not only toothpaste but others such as baby milk formula.
Even tea can push you over the limit, especially in areas with fluoridated water. A study by Derby University found cheap supermarket tea is particularly high in the mineral, which occurs in it naturally. Four mugs of tea can contain as much as 6mg.
Nevertheless, local authorities are currently pushing, with the encouragement of Public Health England, to fluoridate more people's water.
But the backlash has begun. Earlier this month, protesters in Hull launched a campaign to halt the city council's plans to add fluoride to their water.
Figures show 43 per cent of children in Hull are suffering tooth decay, one of the worst rates in the country. However, local protesters, such as Paddy Holdsworth, of East Yorkshire Against Fluoride, fear the dangers of unwanted side-effects. 'This is compulsory medication,' he says. 'It is just crazy.'
Another obstacle lies in the path of the pro-fluoridation camp — a significant hole in their argument that mineral supplementation is the best way to improve mass dental health
About ten years ago, a review of previous evidence by York University researchers found that tooth decay in children across Europe had fallen, irrespective of fluoride in the water. Indeed, the countries showing the biggest decrease — Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark — do not fluoridate their supplies.
Sanctions
'This probably reflects use of fluoridated toothpastes and other factors, including perhaps nutrition,' said the investigators in the British Medical Journal, who concluded that the evidence 'on the potential benefits and harms of adding fluoride to water is relatively poor'.
This argument was perhaps unwittingly reinforced last year by national survey evidence from Public Health England itself. The authority warned that drinking fruit juice and squash from bottles and feeding cups was responsible for significant amounts of tooth decay, and called for under-threes to have milk and water.
And surely it is just such mass education — not mass medication — that in the long term will improve dental health.
Our health chiefs should treat us as adults. Rather than slipping something into our water, isn't it high time these authorities introduced sanctions against parents who fecklessly allow their children's teeth to rot?
