Conspiracy Fact? Higher Fluoride Levels Linked To Lower IQ Scores In Children, New Review Finds

Authored by George Citroner via The Epoch Times,

Following the August 2024 release of a U.S. government report linking higher levels of fluoride in drinking water to lower IQ in children, a new review conducted by the National Institutes of Health appears to confirm those findings.

The new analysis, published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, found that fluoride exposure exceeding 1.5 milligrams per liter (mg/L) was associated with reduced intelligence among children.

The study, conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP), took nine years to complete and is the largest meta-analysis to date on the health effects of fluoride.

The studies reviewed measured fluoride levels in drinking water and in urine. The authors used urinary fluoride as a proxy for total fluoride exposure.

74 Studies Reviewed

Among the 74 reviewed studies, 64 found that higher levels of fluoride exposure were linked to lower IQ in children. The strength of this association is considered moderate to large.

Thirty-one studies reviewed noticed a dose-response, such that increased fluoride levels in drinking water were linked to further decreases in children’s IQ results.

However, the relationship between fluoride and lower IQ scores only persisted when fluoride concentrations in drinking water were above 1.5 mg/L, higher than the current fluoride drinking water standard of 0.7 mg/L.

The 1.5 mg/L cutoff is the same concentration identified in the NTP’s August 2024 report. The report was cited over 120 times in a lawsuit that led the court to rule that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must revise its current drinking water standard of 0.7 mg/L.

When evaluating urinary fluoride, the researchers found that every increase of 1 mg/L in urinary fluoride was associated with an average decrease of between 1.14 and 1.63 IQ points.

Fluoride can cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in areas of the brain responsible for cognition and memory, although its effects on the brain remain unclear.

The study’s findings inform future risk-benefit assessments related to fluoride exposure, the authors wrote, especially highlighting the significant contributions of water and drinks made with fluoridated water, like soft drinks, fruit juice, beer, and some bottled water, to total fluoride ingestion.

In the United States, it is estimated that approximately 40 percent to 70 percent of fluoride intake originates from fluoridated drinking water.

The World Health Organization has established the safe upper intake level of fluoride in drinking water to be 1.5 mg/L, and the U.S. Public Health Service recommends a fluoride concentration of 0.7 mg/L of drinking water. However, “fluoride levels above 1.5 mg/L are found in wells and community water systems that serve nearly 3 million people in the United States,” Christine Bruske Flowers, director of communications at the National Institutes of Health, told The Epoch Times.

Food & Water Watch v. EPA

In a September 2024 federal court case in California, environmental nonprofit Food & Water Watch sued the EPA, arguing that adding fluoride to drinking water is harmful. The judge ruled in favor of Food & Water Watch, finding that the current level of fluoride in drinking water (0.7 mg/L) poses an “unreasonable risk” to children’s IQ.

The ruling was based upon the NTP’s report, which found that fluoride concentrations close to the EPA’s current standard posed a risk to neurodevelopment.

The EPA is now required to take action to address this risk, which could lead to significant changes in how we treat drinking water.

Experts in Disagreement

Despite the review’s findings, experts remain at odds about the meaning of the results.

Studies that have suggested a link between childhood fluoride exposure and reduced IQ “have had their limitations,” Suparna Mahalaha, an assistant professor at Case Western University School of Dental Medicine who was not associated with the study, told The Epoch Times.

In an editorial published along with the new study, Dr. Steven M. Levy, a dentist not involved in the study, pointed out that there is “no evidence” of an adverse effect at the lower fluoride levels commonly used in community water fluoridation systems.

One example he cited in opposition to the NTP’s study was the researchers’ use of urinary fluoride as a way to measure long-term fluoride exposure, stating that such measures are invalid because “fluoride has a short half-life and there is substantial variation within days and from day to day.”

Flowers emphasized the importance of fluoridated water and its use for decades to reduce dental cavities and improve general oral health.

However, the increased modes of fluoride exposure can also put pregnant women and children at risk.

Fluoride intake through food and drinks made with fluoridated water, toothpaste, and mouthwashes may increase children and pregnant women’s total fluoride exposure “and may affect fetal, infant, and child neurodevelopment,” Flowers added.

Mahalaha noted that the concentration of fluoride in drinking water is much less than what is added to toothpaste and mouth rinses, which is why it’s essential to ensure children do not swallow these products.

Toothpaste tubes carry warnings against ingestion because excessive fluoride intake can be harmful.

“When applying toothpaste to a child’s toothbrush, less than a pea size amount is sufficient and safe,” she said.

“From a public health perspective, in my opinion, high doses of ingested fluoride, and other things like sugar, processed foods, social media, and screen time all negatively affect the development of a child,” Mahalaha said.

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In November, when RFK Jr. raised his concerns about fluoride’s effects, NPR was quick to attack the ‘conspiracist’…

Despite the clear benefits, conspiracy theories around fluoride have existed for almost as long as the water has been fluorinated, according to Matthew Dallek, a political historian at the George Washington University.

“In a way the conspiracy theory about fluoride in the drinking water is one of the original public health conspiracy theories,” he says.

…

Experts were swift to condemn the promise to remove fluoride from the water.

“Fluoride has been well tested. It clearly and definitively decreases cavities, and is not associated with any clear evidence of the chronic diseases mentioned in that tweet,” says Dr. Paul Offit, a researcher and physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a science denialist. He makes up his own scientific truths and ignores the actual truths,” Offit says.

Who’s the science-denier now Mr.Offit?