A new report raises questions about whether there are links between the use of fluoride in drinking water and a decline in the IQ levels of children in the country.
The research was published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics this Monday, based on a review of 74 clinical analyzes on the use of the mineral and its possible effects on children’s IQ.
The analysis found that there is a statistically significant association between high fluoride exposure and lower scores on IQ tests given to children.
It showed that “the more exposed a child is to fluoride, the more likely that child is to have a lower recorded IQ level than if he or she were not exposed,” Kyla Taylor, a co-author of the review and who works at the Institutes, said via email. National Health.
Taylor indicated that for every small increase in fluoride found in traces of urine from minors “there is a decrease in 1.63 points of IQ.”
It should be noted that the researchers They did not suggest that fluoride should be discontinued. in drinking water, and that the review authors indicated that many of the 74 previous analyzes they reviewed were of comparatively low quality because they had been conducted in China, where fluoride levels are typically much higher than in the US.
Fluoride has been added to the public drinking water supply in the United States for decades, and no US study since then has found measurable declines in children’s cognitive development.
Still, there is a movement in some communities against fluoridated water, and some places have voted to stop its use in the public water supply.
However, several pediatric dentists have warned that removing fluoride would be harmful to children’s health and public.
“What we have seen in areas where fluoride has been removed is that cavities and tooth wear have increased dramatically,” says Erica Caffrey, who chairs the clinical affairs unit at the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
More analysis
Fluoride has been proven to be beneficial in preventing issues such as cavities. Although there are also experts who emphasize that any possible link with potential neurotoxicity should be studied further.
“At a minimum we urgently need an independent, scientific panel to be established to review all the evidence,” said Bruce Lanphear, a professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University in Canada.
The United States Public Health Service (USPHS) recommends that the concentration of fluoride be 0.7 milligrams per liter of drinking water.
Kyla Taylor, the co-author of the recent study, said there is no data yet to determine whether that level has any impact on the potential IQ of children in the United States. And in fact, in the country, randomized, controlled clinical studies with a double-blind method (considered one of the most impartial) have never been done to examine how fluoride could affect children.
“I’m afraid that people will see what this (recent) study reports and then automatically say that certain levels of fluoride result in all of these problems without investigating further,” says pediatric dentist Courtney Peterson.
Fluoride and the incoming Government
The debate over fluoride use will likely increase in the coming months as President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
This is because his pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, has previously said (without providing credible evidence) that fluoride is supposedly an “industrial waste” and is allegedly associated with arthritis, bone cancer and other problems.
In an interview in November with NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo, Kennedy also said that “fluoride is on the way out.”
