Tea-drinkers risk
fluoride-damaged bones and more, studies shows
Some teas contain more fluoride than EPA allows in public water
supplies, which can do skeletal damage, according to research published in Environmental Pollution (Das, et al.
12/2017).
It’s undisputed that excessive fluoride
ingestion can cause many adverse health effects, not just to bones.
But Waugh and a team of researchers, paint a more dismal picture in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2016)
Tea plants (Camellia
sinensis) absorb fluoride from soil and air then released from 1.47 to 6.9
milligrams fluoride per liter (mg/L) when brewed, reports Das’ research team
“It can be predicted that long-term consumption of
copious quantities of traditional tea might increase the chances of fluorosis in
the consumers,” they report.
Fluoride from tea,
alone, has reportedly caused skeletal fluorosis, an arthritic-type disease
that most US physicians aren’t trained to diagnose and consumers aren’t informed
about.
The US EPA caps fluoride water
contamination at 4 mg/L to protect against skeletal fluorosis. But an
EPA-requested review of fluoride toxicology research (NRC 2006) revealed 4 mg/L
doesn’t protect bones. The level must be lowered – some say to as close to zero
as possible.
Additionally, Waugh et al. brewed 54
different brands of tea to find fluoride levels reaching up to 6.1 mg/L. Waugh
concludes that individuals’ total fluoride intake “could readily exceed the
levels known to cause chronic fluoride intoxication.” Heart, liver, kidneys,
endocrine and nervous
systems are also at risk, they caution.
Alarmingly, some studies found 9 mg/L fluoride in brewed tea.
Alarmingly, some studies found 9 mg/L fluoride in brewed tea.
Without determining constituents’ total fluoride intake from
foods, medicines, dental products, etc., as advised by JV Kumar (formerly
NYS DoH), legislators, lobbied by rich and powerful special interest groups,
often pass fluoridation laws quietly to avoid confrontation with science-savvy
voters opposed to fluoridation. This happened in California,
Arkansas
and New
York State. Fluoridation is doing more harm than good as proven by dental researchers, themselves.
No one disputes that excessive fluoride
is bad. Local market basket analyses of commonly consumed foods and beverages
must be calculated before ever considering water fluoridation.
“Among populations habitually consuming black tea, water fluoridation
is not only unnecessary but also possibly harmful…The target organs of
chronic fluoride intoxication are not only the teeth and skeleton, but
also the liver, kidney, nervous and reproductive systems,” reports Cao et al. in Food Chemistry (2004).
A March 2008 Food and Chemical Toxicology study found up to 4.5, 1.8,
and 0.5 mg/L fluoride in black, green and white teas, respectively,
when brewed for 5 minutes (61 teas sampled).
Brewed teas could contain up to 6 mg/L fluoride depending on the
amount of dry tea used, the water fluoride concentration and the
brewing time, according to the American Dental Association (ADA).
According to 1997 ADA data, 3 and 4 milligrams daily is adequate for
women and men, respectively, to prevent fluoride’s adverse effects.
It’s much lower for children. In 2006, the National Research Council
reported the basis for those levels should be reduced.
Case Reports by Cao and Yi in the Journal of Fluorine Chemistry
(February 2008) “Tea and fluorosis:”
--A 57-year-old Englishman’s misdiagnosed Paget’s disease (weakened
bones) with osteoarthritis was finally correctly diagnosed as skeletal
fluorosis caused by his long-term heavy tea-drinking habit.
--A Pakistani woman’s dental fluorosis resulted solely from tea which
she consumed from age two.
--A 36-year-old Chinese woman’s ten-years of joint pain disappeared
when she stopped drinking tea.
--French doctors identified 5 patients who developed bone softening
(osteomalacia) from drinking tea.
-- An American woman's fluoride-caused debilitating joint pains
disappeared when her two-gallon-a-day iced-tea habit stopped.
"By 2020, one in two Americans over age 50 will be at risk for
fractures from osteoporosis or low bone mass," according to the
Surgeon General.
Fluoride is in many foods as determined by the USDA
http://www.ars.usda.gov/
STOP FLUORIDATION
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