Fluorides in Tea: Good or Bad?

A little bit of fluorides may help to build better teeth and bones, too much, on the other hand, can result in dental fluorosis, osteoarthritis, suppression of the thyroid, or even birth defects…

3.5 mg

Fluorides are said to help strengthen teeth and bones. However, findings by independent sources indicate excessive intake of the compound can be harmful (1). Dental fluorosis, osteoarthritis, suppression of the thyroid, and birth defects are some of the dreadful issues. Some studies even link it to cancer and lowering of the IQ. In the US, recommended daily allowances (RDA) of fluorine is 0.7~ 3 mg/day for children and 3.5 mg/day for adults. In the context of modern urban life, fluorides do exist in a lot of our intakes and awareness is needed to prevent overdose (2).

Mind that water

One most overlook source of the compound is our tap water. It is a practice by some governments to add fluorides in the water supply (3). There are activist groups fighting against it and before they are successful, you may have to find out if your local source is over-fluoridated. Fluoride is one of the most difficult contaminants in water to remove. Some filters do the job; if you are concerned check carefully if yours does. However, if your water supply is within reasonable fluoride content, for example, 0.5 ppm (as in Hong Kong), you are still within RDA limit even if you gulp down 7 liters of water directly from that tap, providing that you are not intaking other sources of fluorides.

And even that table salt

Fluorides exist also in a lot of grocery products too, such as tea, fruits, vegetables, tobacco, meats and seafood. Certain processed meats and meat products contain higher fluoride contents than before they are processed. The compound is found also in baby food, infant formula, instant cereals and most canned beverages, including beer, wines, sodas, and fruit juices (4). Certain brands of “table salt” are heavily fluoridated (5).

Another ridiculous source of it is from our toothpaste and mouthwash. Since we can see that the compound is available virtually in all the things we intake, one wonder why we still need an overdose in the bathroom. Most international brands have it, but there are plenty that don’t. It is found that, on average, children swallow one forth of the toothpaste when they brush.

footnotes

1. This is a very useful website with a number of worthy writing on the effects and comments about fluorides: http://www.fluoridation.com/

2. For more information, please refer to: http://fluoridealert.org/

3. In the US, safety fluoride level in tap water is set at 1 ppm, or 1 mg/liter. It is found, however, that fluoride measure in different water sources varies from a fraction of 1 ppm to several times of that in different cities throughout the world. For example, in Hong Kong where I live, the official figure is 0.5 ppm.

4. USDA has a report of the fluoride content of some of the food and beverage items commonly consumed in the US, though the survey is far from comprehensive. It is noteworthy that the tea they have sampled are either teabags, ready-to-drinks, or instant mixes, which are produced mostly from older tealeaves and even branches and twigs, which are much higher in fluoride content than normal whole-leaf tea. Neverthelss, here is their link for your reference: http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12354500/Data/Fluoride/F02.pdf

5. You may find a lot of information through the website of the Fluoride Education Project: http://poisonfluoride.com/pfpc/html/salt_index.html