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The debate over the benefits and risks of fluoride continues as RFK Jr. — President-elect Trump’s nominee for HHS secretary — pushes to remove fluoride from the U.S. water supply.
“Fluoride is an industrial waste linked to arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, disorders of nervous development and thyroid disease,” RFK wrote in a post on X in November.
A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics on January 6 found another correlation between fluoride exposure and children’s IQ.
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Study co-author Kayla Taylor, Ph.D., who lives in North Carolina, noted that fluoridated water has been used for “decades” to reduce tooth decay and improve oral health.
Fluoride exposure is associated with a variety of negative health effects, but benefits oral health. (iStock)
“However, it is a cause for concern pregnant women and children get fluoride from a variety of sources, including drinking water, foods and beverages with added water, tea, toothpaste, dental floss, and mouthwash, and that their total exposure to fluoride is too high to affect fetal, infant and child neurodevelopment,” she told Fox News Digital.
The new researchled by scientists from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), analyzed 74 epidemiological studies of children’s IQ and fluoride exposure.
The studies measured fluoride in drinking water and urine in 10 countries, including Canada, China, Denmark, India, Iran, Mexico, Pakistan, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. (None held in the US)
A meta-analysis found a “statistically significant association” between higher and lower fluoride exposure children’s IQ scoresaccording to Taylor.
“(It showed) that the more fluoride a child is exposed to, the more likely the child’s IQ is to be lower than if they weren’t exposed,” she said.
The researchers found a “statistically significant association” between higher fluoride exposure and lower IQ scores in children. (iStock)
These results are consistent with six previous meta-analyses, all of which reported the same “statistically significant inverse association” between fluoride exposure and children’s IQ, Taylor stressed.
The study found that for every 1 mg/L increase in urinary fluoride, there was a 1.63 point decrease in IQ.
“Safe” exposure levels
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set 1.5 mg/L as the “upper safe limit” of fluoride in drinking water.
“There is concern that pregnant women and children are getting fluoride from a variety of sources.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Public Health Service recommends a fluoride concentration of 0.7 mg/L in drinking water.
“There was not enough data to determine whether 0.7 mg/L of fluoride in drinking water had an effect on children’s IQ,” Taylor noted.
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Higher levels of the chemical can be found in wells and municipal water that serves nearly three million people in the United States, the researcher noted.
She urged pregnant women and parents of young children to monitor their overall fluoride intake.
Almost three million people have access to wells and municipal water with fluoride levels that exceed the levels recommended by the World Health Organization. (iStock)
“If their water is fluoridated, they may wish to replace their tap water with low-fluoride bottled water, e.g. purified waterand limit exposure from other sources such as dental products or black tea,” she said.
“Parents can use low-fluoride bottled water to mix with powdered baby formula and limit the use of fluoridated toothpaste by young children.”
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Although the study did not set out to address the broader public health implications of water fluoridation in the U.S., Taylor suggested the findings could help inform future studies about the effect of fluoride on children’s health.
A dental health expert shares cautions
In response to this study and other previous studies, Dr. Eli Phillips, DDS, an oral health educator from Austin, Texastold Fox News Digital that she does not support water fluoridation.
The researcher recommended that parents of young children monitor their total fluoride intake. (iStock)
“I join those who strongly oppose public water fluoridation, and I wonder why our water supplies are still being fluoridated in the 21st century,” she wrote in an email.
“There are cities and countries without fluoride where the population receives high levels oral healthwhich in some cases look better than fluoridated.’
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Phillips called the fluoride debate “confusing” even among dentists, as the American Dental Association (ADA) advocates the use of fluoride to prevent tooth decay through water fluoridation, toothpaste and mouthwash — “sometimes in high concentrations.”
Fluoride is used in water, toothpaste and mouthwash to prevent tooth decay. (iStock)
“(But) biological (holistic) dentists usually tell their patients to be afraid of fluoride and to avoid using it altogether, even if their teeth are destroyed by decay,” she said.
“Topical fluoride is beneficial, while systemic use poses a risk.”
Phillips urged the public to consider the different compounds of fluoride, the effects of different concentrations and the “big difference” between topical application of fluoride and ingestion.
“Topical fluoride is beneficial, while systemic use poses risks,” she warned.
“Individuals must take responsibility for their own oral health using natural and sound strategies.’
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The research received funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Intramural Research Program.
