Reasons to Filter Fluoride from our Water
If you’re interested in natural health, then the concept of fluoride in your drinking water might make you suspicious. Should you filter fluoride from your water?
At first glance, Google is ALL FOR the consumption of fluoride. They say fluoride has been proven to reduce tooth decay by 40-60%; The American Dental Association is one of the first articles that pop up on Google, explaining why adding fluoride to tap water is good for communities. Why? I hear you ask. Well… Fluoride prevents tooth decay (really?) It saves money on dental fillings, and it’s natural (hmm, I’m not too convinced).
I guess we’ll have to delve a little deeper to find out what the truth is here. It can be hard when there are so many so-called “fact-checker” websites out there. But let’s delve into why it might be important to remove fluoride from your tap water.
Interestingly, the tooth decay argument seems to be flawed. Most of Europe doesn’t fluoridate their water supplies, YET incidences of tooth decay have declined in the past 50 years. More about the subject of tooth decay later.
What Is Fluoride Used For In Water?
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “Fluoride helps to rebuild and strengthen the tooth's surface, or enamel. Water fluoridation prevents tooth decay by providing frequent and consistent contact with low levels of fluoride.” Yet Dr. Arvid Carlsson, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist profoundly disagrees with this statement. He says that fluoride is a drug and shouldn’t be added to tap water. He successfully helped squash both attempts to fluoridate water in Sweden.
Back in the 1940s and 50’s many false beliefs were held by the general public. Such as cigarettes are good for your health. Or that heroin is good for sleep and cough relief. Another false belief was that fluoride is a nutrient. Fast forward to the 21st century, and the CDC admits that fluoride doesn’t prevent dental cavities. Yet, old habits die hard, and many people are stuck thinking outdated “facts” are true.
[Some Of] The Side Effects Of Fluoride In Drinking Water
Mottled teeth (a.k.a fluorosis) is a condition where teeth are discoloured due to overexposure to fluoride during the first eight years of life. One of the most upsetting side effects of too much fluoride is that it can lower the IQ of both animals and humans. While fact-checkers deny that Hitler used fluoride to sedate the inmates at his concentration camps. The studies on animal and human IQ cannot be so easily brushed under the carpet. Some 70 studies discovered that too much fluoride reduces IQ in humans. Another 60 animal studies back this up. While (a meagre) eight studies didn’t find this correlation, but the majority shine a light on the issue at hand.
By assessing the development of infants at 12 and 24 months, researchers discovered that dietary fluoride intake during pregnancy reduced the IQ of the infants. Another study of 952 children aged 7-13 years of age found that high intakes of fluoride reduced intelligence. They determined the amount of fluoride in the children’s bodies with a urine, hair and nail fluoride test. Another study out of China discovered that dopamine genes were modified with too much fluoride, thus reducing the IQ of children.
What Is The Importance Of Fluoride?
While many people agree that fluoride when applied topically can aid in the formation of enamel in teeth. Overexposure to fluoride is possible when administered via drinking water. There is no way to ensure that we don’t exceed the advised daily intake of fluoride. Therefore, cleansing your water of fluoride can help mitigate the risk of consuming too much fluoride. Dentists advise that 0.7 parts per million (PPM) of fluoride per day is optimal.
But, is that not a conflict of interest? Don’t dentists make money out of cavities? Definitely, something to think about!! Above 4.0 ppm of fluoride is agreed to be hazardous to health. It’s undeniable, too much fluoride has deleterious effects on health and wellbeing. Therefore many people boil water to remove impurities. When, in fact, boiling water increases the concentration of many impurities in water, as the pure distilled water is evaporated. Leaving a stronger quotient of dissolved fluoride in water.
Why Is Fluoride Added to Our Water Supplies?
It was actually correlation, rather than causation or scientific research that led to adding fluoride to the tap water. Ninety years ago a dentist by the name of Frederick Mckay discovered fluoride in Colorado springs. The local people didn’t experience tooth decay as frequently as in surrounding areas. While this has been validated by the Cochrane report, there are various concerns surrounding the health issues that can occur with excess fluoride consumption.
Today the efficacy of adding fluoride to municipal water supplies is still in practice. Yet many people question the fact that it can be hard to know how much fluoride you’re consuming when you think about tap water, mouth wash, toothpaste and other goods. Additionally, consuming fluoride in drinking water doesn’t have the same effect as applying fluoride topically. There is a growing anti-fluoride movement that feels that adding fluoride to water is bad practice and somewhat archaic.
Learn more: Should You Remove Fluoride From Your Water Supply?
In Conclusion
Fluoride is commonly added to tap water despite this action being akin to drugging the population at large. If you drink fluoridated tap water then you cannot monitor how much fluoride you’re consuming. Making it easy to reach dangerous levels. To ensure that you’re not drinking fluoridated water avoid fizzy juice like cola, as it’s made with tap water. Also, you could install a water filtration system that’s proven to remove fluoride from your tap water.
