The controversy about the advantages and dangers of fluoride is ongoing, as RFK Jr. — incoming President Trump’s pick out for HHS secretary — pushes to take away it from the U.S. water provide.
“Fluoride is an commercial waste related to arthritis, bone fractures, bone most cancers, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid illness,” RFK wrote in a submit on X in November.
A brand new learn about revealed in JAMA Pediatrics on Jan. 6 discovered every other correlation between fluoride publicity and youngsters’s IQs.
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Find out about co-author Kyla Taylor, PhD, who’s based totally in North Carolina, famous that fluoridated water has been used “for many years” to reduce dental cavities and strengthen oral well being.

Fluoride publicity has been related to various unfavourable well being results, but advantages oral well being. (iStock)
“Then again, there may be fear that pregnant women and youngsters are getting fluoride from many resources, together with consuming water, water-added meals and drinks, teas, toothpaste, floss and mouthwash, and that their general fluoride publicity is just too top and would possibly have an effect on fetal, toddler and kid neurodevelopment,” she instructed Fox Information Virtual.
The new research, led by means of scientists on the Nationwide Institute of Environmental Well being Sciences (NIEHS), analyzed 74 epidemiological research on kids’s IQ and fluoride publicity.
The research measured fluoride in consuming water and urine throughout 10 nations, together with Canada, China, Denmark, India, Iran, Mexico, Pakistan, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. (None have been carried out within the U.S.)
The meta-analysis discovered a “statistically vital affiliation” between upper fluoride publicity and decrease children’s IQ scores, consistent with Taylor.
“[It showed] that the extra fluoride a kid is uncovered to, the much more likely that kid’s IQ might be not up to in the event that they weren’t uncovered,” she stated.

Scientists discovered a “statistically vital affiliation” between upper fluoride publicity and decrease kids’s IQ rankings. (iStock)
Those effects have been in keeping with six earlier meta-analyses, all of which reported the similar “statistically vital inverse associations” between fluoride publicity and youngsters’s IQs, Taylor emphasised.
The analysis discovered that for each 1mg/L building up in urinary fluoride, there used to be a 1.63-point lower in IQ.
‘Secure’ publicity ranges
The World Health Organization (WHO) has established 1.5mg/L because the “higher secure restrict” of fluoride in consuming water.
“There may be fear that pregnant girls and youngsters are getting fluoride from many resources.”
In the meantime, the U.S. Public Well being Provider recommends a fluoride focus of 0.7 mg/L in consuming water.
“There used to be now not sufficient knowledge to decide if 0.7 mg/L of fluoride publicity in consuming water affected kids’s IQs,” Taylor famous.
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Upper ranges of the chemical may also be present in wells and group water serving just about 3 million other people within the U.S., the researcher famous.
She inspired pregnant girls and oldsters of babies to take note in their general fluoride consumption.

Just about 3 million other people have get entry to to wells and group water with fluoride ranges above the degrees recommended by means of the Global Well being Group. (iStock)
“If their water is fluoridated, they’ll want to exchange faucet water with low-fluoride bottled water, like purified water, and restrict publicity from different resources, reminiscent of dental merchandise or black tea,” she stated.
“Oldsters can use low-fluoride bottled water to combine with powdered toddler components and restrict use of fluoridated toothpaste by means of small children.”
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Whilst the analysis didn’t intend to deal with broader public well being implications of water fluoridation within the U.S., Taylor recommended that the findings may just assist tell future research into the affect of fluoride on kids’s well being.
Dental well being professional stocks cautions
In accordance with this learn about and different earlier analysis, Dr. Ellie Phillips, DDS, an oral well being educator based totally in Austin, Texas, instructed Fox Information Virtual that she does now not make stronger water fluoridation.

The learn about researcher inspired oldsters of babies to take note in their general fluoride consumption. (iStock)
“I sign up for those that vehemently oppose public water fluoridation, and I query why our water provides are nonetheless fluoridated within the twenty first century,” she wrote in an e mail.
“There are non-fluoridated towns and nations the place the general public revel in top ranges of oral health, which in some instances seem higher than the ones which can be fluoridated.”
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Phillips referred to as the fluoride debate “complicated” even amongst dentists, because the American Dental Affiliation (ADA) advocates for fluoride use for hollow space prevention via water fluoridation, toothpaste and mouthwash — “every now and then in top concentrations.”

Fluoride is utilized in water, toothpaste and mouthwash to assist save you cavities. (iStock)
“[But] biologic (holistic) dentists usually inspire their sufferers to concern fluoride and steer clear of its use solely, although their tooth are ravaged by means of teeth decay,” she stated.
“Topical fluoride is recommended, whilst systemic intake poses dangers.”
Phillips inspired the general public to believe various fluoride compounds, the impact of various concentrations and the “excessive distinction” between making use of fluoride topically and consuming it.
“Topical fluoride is recommended, whilst systemic intake poses dangers,” she cautioned.
“Folks should take rate of their very own oral health the use of herbal and knowledgeable methods.”
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The learn about gained investment from the Nationwide Institute of Environmental Well being Sciences (NIEHS), the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) and the Intramural Analysis Program.