Fluoride has been a target of conspiracy theorists for decades. That fringe group, who’ve been pushing for the removal of fluoride from drinking water, has scored some victories of late, as they claim that fluoride is, to put it elegantly, making us all dumber or subservient or whatever flavor of the conspiracy they’re yelling on street corners.
But what does the science say? Plenty of studies have shown no link between fluoridated water and a drop in cognitive abilities, but what about new research? Surely if Utah and Florida outright banned water fluoridation, there must be some new research saying it’s bad for you, right?
According to the latest study on the topic, published in the Journal of Dental Research, there is absolutely no link between fluoride and impaired brain function.
A New Study Just Challenged a Major Claim About Fluoride in Drinking Water
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin decided to settle this by looking at roughly 2,500 older adults in Ireland. Because the country rolled out nationwide water fluoridation in 1964, scientists could track these folks’ fluoride exposure over 50 years based entirely on where they lived.
After making them undergo cognitive assessments, the results were deeply uninteresting in the best way possible. People who spent half a century drinking heavily fluoridated water were just as mentally sharp as those who rarely, if ever, drank it. Even the participants exposed during their first five years of life had no signs of cognitive decline.
As ScienceAlert points out, some studies from China linked fluoride to lower IQ, but that’s because those specific cases involved people putting cartoonishly massive, toxic concentrations of fluoride in water. The amount added to drinking water in the United States is just enough to keep your teeth from crumbling into dust and quite far away from inducing a severe case of fluorosis.
Your tap water is not a part of a vast government mind control experiment. Far too many independent research teams are looking into this and reaching the same conclusion: a little fluoride is fine for your brain and excellent for your teeth.
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