Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI; Exposure to fluoride during the foetal stage or early childhood may impair cognition in children, a new study has warned. Published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now supports a few previous studies indicating that exposure to fluoride during the foetal stage or early childhood is not good for kids.
Elevated concentrations of fluoride can occur in well water, and in some countries, it is added to drinking water to counteract caries in the population. Fluoride occurs naturally as fluoride ions in drinking water, but the concentrations are generally low in public water supplies.
In some countries, such as the US, Canada, Chile, Australia and Ireland, fluoride is commonly added to the municipal water supply at around 0.7 mg per litre to prevent caries. “Given the concern about health risks, the addition of fluoride to drinking water is controversial and has been widely debated in the USA and Canada,” said Maria Kippler, associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute.
“Our results support the hypothesis that even relatively low concentrations of fluoride can impact children’s early development,” she mentioned.
The researchers followed 500 mothers and their children in rural Bangladesh, where fluoride occurs naturally in the drinking water, to investigate the association between early exposure to fluoride and children’s cognitive abilities. The concentrations are similar to those found in many other countries worldwide.
