Pregnant women exposed to high levels of fluoride double their chances of having a child with a neurobehavioral problem, a new study suggests.
It comes as ministers controversially plan to add fluoride to the drinking water supply of a further 1.6 million Britons to improve the country’s dental health.
American experts, who examined a group of just under 230 mother-child pairs, found that those with higher levels of fluoride during pregnancy were more likely to have a child with a neurobehavioral problem by the time the baby turned three.
These problems included anxiety symptoms and emotional regulation.
Children born to women with higher levels of fluoride in their urine were also more likely to suffer from headaches and stomachaches, the authors noted.
According to the British Fluoridation Society, only 6.1 million Britons (around 10 per cent of the population) currently receive water with sufficient fluoride levels to benefit oral health. These areas include Hartlepool, Easington, parts of North Hampshire and South Berkshire.
It’s unclear what caused some women in the study to have higher fluoride levels than others. Drinking tap water versus filtered water, eating certain foods, and using some dental products are potential causes of increased fluoride exposure.
Lead researcher Ashley Malin, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Florida College of Public Health, said their findings suggested a link between fluoride exposure and fetal brain development.
“There is no known benefit of fluoride consumption to the developing fetus, but we do know that there is possibly a risk to its developing brain,” he said.
“We found that each 0.68 milligram per liter increase in urinary fluoride levels in pregnant women was associated with nearly twice the odds of children scoring in the clinical range or clinical borderline for neurobehavioral problems at 3 years, according to their mothers’ reports.”
She added that the findings were concerning and she hoped they would inspire policymakers to create specific recommendations for fluoride exposure during pregnancy.
“It would be important to do a nationwide study in the United States on this issue, but I think the findings of the current study and the recent studies from Canada and Mexico suggest that there is a real concern here,” he said.
Millions more Britons will have fluoride added to their tap water in a government scheme to improve their oral health (file image)
In the United States, as in the United Kingdom, fluoride is added to tap water in an attempt to help passively protect people’s teeth, a process called fluoridation.
The mineral helps strengthen the tough outer protective layer of teeth, called enamel, which in turn protects teeth from damage and wear, helping to prevent cavities.
Fluoridation is a controversial topic and has become a hot topic in the United States.
Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has even called it “neurotoxic” and has promised to eliminate it from drinking supplies if elected, although major scientific reviews have found “no convincing evidence” that it is dangerous, according to the NHS.
In their study, the researchers, who published their findings in the journal Open Jama Network They collected urine samples from women during the third trimester of pregnancy.
Experts said they were careful to also measure lead exposure, which is well established to affect children’s development, in their analysis.
These results were then compared to a questionnaire that mothers were required to complete when their child turned three to assess their offspring’s behavior and emotions.
Fluoridation is a hot topic in the US, with presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr earlier this week calling it “neurotoxic” and vowing to eliminate it from drinking supplies if elected.
The researchers found that women with greater fluoride exposure during pregnancy tended to rate their children higher on general neurobehavioral problems.
The researchers did not provide the level of fluoride in the tap water to which the women, who lived in Los Angeles, California, were exposed, but said it was “typical” of those living in fluoridated areas.
Some 5.8 million Britons live in areas where fluoride (also added to toothpastes and mouthwashes) is put in tap water, about a tenth of the population.
However, the Government plans to extend this measure to another 1.6 million people in the northeast.
The 5.8 million figure does not include areas in the UK where water supplies are naturally rich in fluoride; around 300,000 people drink supplies naturally fluoridated by rocks in the soil.
Fluoridation is much more common in the US, where about 73 percent of the population adds the mineral to their water supply at a concentration of about 0.7 mg per liter.
This is about half the maximum of 1.5 mg of fluoride per liter allowed in Britain, a level that was not exceeded by any public water supplier in 2022, according to official data.
The study had a number of limitations, some of which the authors acknowledge.
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One factor is that the children’s behavior was reported by their mothers, which may have influenced the results.
Additionally, the study is observational, meaning that researchers cannot directly prove that fluoride exposure was the cause of the behaviors observed in the children.
The authors also note that their study comes from a group of primarily Hispanic women in one part of the U.S., and therefore their findings may not be replicated in other populations.
The latest study is not the first time alarm bells have been raised about the addition of fluoride to drinking water.
Some studies have linked excessive amounts of the mineral to babies born with Down syndrome, as well as kidney stones and some types of cancer.
However, the NHS and experts such as the government’s chief medical officer, Sir Chris Whitty, say these claims are not supported by evidence.
Professor Whitty has previously described them as “exaggerated and unproven”.
Health chiefs have estimated that adding fluoride to more water supplies in the UK could prevent two-thirds of hospital admissions for cavities, an issue costing the NHS and, by extension, taxpayers millions.
In 2021, Professor Whitty and his colleagues said that if all five-year-old children with drinking water containing less than 0.2 milligrams per liter (mg/l) of fluoride started drinking water increased to 0.7 mg/l , the number of cavities would be reduced by up to 28 percent among the poorest communities.
Plans to add fluoride to more water supplies come at a time when access to NHS dentistry is becoming increasingly difficult.
There are frequent stories of parents of young children, who are entitled to free NHS dental care, being unable to get their children’s appointments or canceling at the last minute.
Fluoridation is considered a low-cost, high-impact public health initiative as it is passive and does not depend on people actively changing their behavior compared to encouraging them to stop smoking, exercise more, or eat healthier foods.
But some experts have argued that since fluoride is now added to various toothpastes and mouthwashes, adding it to tap water is not as beneficial as it once was.
While the more serious dangers of fluoridation are a point of controversy, a lesser known risk is fluorosis.
This occurs when a child has too much fluoride while their teeth are developing, causing very white lines to appear on the teeth when they are mild and discoloration of the teeth when they are severe.
It is partly for this reason that the World Health Organization recommends that fluoride in the drinking water supply should not exceed 1.5 mg/l.
The risk of fluorosis in the UK is considered low because fluoride levels in drinking water are carefully monitored in Britain.
Outlandish conspiracy theories promoting fluoride as a plot by the global elite to depopulate the world or that it is being used for mind control purposes are frequently spread online.
However, experts have repeatedly told MailOnline that levels in the UK’s water supply are not a health problem.
Some 25 countries around the world already add fluoride to tap water, including Ireland, most of the United States and Australia.
