For an overview of the neurotoxicity of fluoridation chemicals, please refer to our articles:
Recent studies
(Not in chronological order)
Prenatal Fluoride Exposure and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in a National Birth Cohort
“Exposure to fluoride during fetal development is associated with lower IQ scores. These findings, which suggest that fluoride is neurotoxic, underscore the need to critically evaluate the practice of water fluoridation.” August 2019
Prenatal fluoride exposure and cognitive outcomes in children at 4 and 6–12 years of age in Mexico
This 12-year, US$3 million, government-funded study showed significant reductions in children’s IQ when their mothers were exposed to fluoride during pregnancy. This carefully-controlled study of Mexican mother-offspring pairs by American and Canadian researchers, mothers were receiving the same fluoride doses as mothers in the US and Australia who live in communities that add fluoride to their water. Environmental Health Perspectives: September 2017. Also see our article: Fluoride and reduced IQ
Community water fluoridation and urinary fluoride concentrations in a national sample of pregnant women in Canada
“Canadian pregnant women have double urine fluoride levels in fluoridated vs. non-fluoridated areas. Previous Mexican research links urine fluoride levels in pregnancy to offspring’s lower IQ. The Canadian and Mexican women’s fluoride levels are similar which causes concern.
Environmental Health Perspectives: October 2018
Prenatal fluoride exposure and neurobehavior among children 1–3 years of age in Mexico
“Our findings add to our team’s recently published report on prenatal fluoride and cognition at ages 4 and 6–12 years by suggesting that higher in utero exposure to F has an adverse impact on offspring cognitive development that can be detected earlier, in the first three years of life.” Occupational & Environmental Medicine: March 2018
Prenatal fluoride exposure and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children at 6-12 years of age in Mexico City
“Higher levels of fluoride exposure during pregnancy were associated with global measures of ADHD and more symptoms of inattention [in offspring]. This is consistent with a growing body of evidence linking neurotoxicity to early-life fluoride exposure.”
Environment International: December 2018
Exposure to fluoridated water and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder prevalence among children and adolescents in the United States: an ecological association
“This study has empirically demonstrated an association between more widespread exposure to fluoridated water and increased ADHD prevalence in U.S. children and adolescents, even after controlling for SES. The findings suggest that fluoridated water may be an environmental risk factor for ADHD. Population studies designed to examine possible mechanisms, patterns and levels of exposure, covariates and moderators of this relationship are warranted.”
Environmental Health: February 2015
Environmental chemical exposures and neurodevelopmental impairments in children
“The current approach to regulating a chemical in the U.S. is to restrict its use only after it is shown unequivocally that exposure impairs human health. Unfortunately, even rudimentary toxicological data are available for only a small fraction of the approximately 80,000 chemicals in use, and most of these data pertain to rather health endpoints such as death, cancer, and birth defects rather than subtle alterations in brain development and function. It is our responsibility to future generations to reduce or, when possible, to eliminate the threats that these chemicals pose to their future well-being.”
Pediatric Medicine: November 2018
The auditory working memory of 13-15-year-old adolescents using water with varying fluoride concentrations from selected public primary schools in north Kajiado Sub County
“The study may support the hypothesis that excess fluoride in drinking water is neurotoxic.”
American Journal of Medicine and Medical Science: 2018
Potential role of fluoride in the etiopathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease
“Fluoride is widespread in the environment and it easily crosses the blood-brain barrier. In the brain fluoride affects cellular energy metabolism, synthesis of inflammatory factors, neurotransmitter metabolism, microglial activation, and the expression of proteins involved in neuronal maturation. Finally, and of specific importance to its role in Alzheimer’s disease, studies report fluoride-induced apoptosis and inflammation within the central nervous system. We describe the impact of fluoride-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in the pathogenesis of AD and demonstrate a role for apoptosis in disease progression, as well as a mechanism for its initiation by fluoride. The influence of fluoride on processes of AD initiation and progression is complex and warrants further investigation, especially considering growing environmental fluoride pollution.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences: December2018
Influence of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors used in Alzheimer’s Disease treatment on the activity of antioxidant enzymes and the concentration of glutathione in THP-1 macrophages under fluoride-induced oxidative stress
“These observations suggest that the fluoride-induced oxidative stress may suppress the antioxidant action of AChE inhibitors. Our results may have significance in the clinical practice of treatment of AD and other dementia diseases.”
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: December 2018
Aluminium and fluoride in drinking water in relation to later dementia risk
“Higher levels of aluminium and fluoride were related to dementia risk in a population of men and women who consumed relatively low drinking-water levels of both.”
The British Journal of Psychiatry: March 2019