Tap water is making kids DUMB but we can fix it.
Fluoride levels are linked to decreased cognitive development in kids and it is added to tap water in every state. Likely you want to read this to make sure your kids have the best health and opportunities.
Recently I read this report (NTP Monograph Report) from the US Department of Health and Human Services. To paraphrase basically high fluoride levels are linked to lower IQ or cognitive development in children (amoung other things). I naturally disagree with everything at first glance but after looking into this info deeper the more concerned I became as a parent of 3 kids under 6 years old. My kids will tell me they know everything already but I still dont want to chemically castrate their intelligence if I can help it. Come to find out the information in this report is sound. It is backed by several scientifically backed studies and tons of data. In one of the studies they had groups of similar kids in China that had identical education and community demographics but the fluoride levels between the two communities were different. In the communities with higher fluoride levels they had a bunch of Homer Simpsons, and with lower fluoride levels they had Lisas.
Okay thats China but the US doesnt have high Fluoride water right: Uh, suprisingly it gets worse:
The studies are pretty clear that there is decrease in IQ proportional to mL/Liter of Fluoride, not substantial (1-2 Points/mL but is this a sign of something bigger?). So is the area of concern here in the USA or else where? Yes!
Well lets fine how dumb my local water is making me/my kids:
First thing first find your water quality. There are options to do this whether your on city water or have a well. First of all one is not necessarily better than the other. There are city waters that are purer than wells and vice versa. Also visually inspecting and tasting the water doesn’t tell you what you need to know. Often impurities that can impact your and/or your children are colorless or tasteless (even though I swear I can taste them)
To find local water quality you look toward your local water report, which the Local Government provides yearly.
Find your local drinking water report <—-Here
The water quality report assesses public water (reservoirs, community wells…etc.) not private wells. For those, contact your town/city and they will offer a list and information about testing services or you can look below for ways to test it yourself.
On my local report I identified that my water coming to my house does have Fluoride, which is no surprise because evidently in the United States it is added to our water…more on that to come on that point.
My local tap water had a Fluoride level of 0.96 ml/L, which is pretty low but it is there and in kids 6-12 that is at least a 1 point loss. However, cognitive development at 6-12 is in my opinion slower compared to kids ages 1-6 but there are not any data for these ages (not sure why). A community well not far from me was 2.63 ml/L…ouch that might be 100 SAT points.
I knew my water tasted funny.
Why do they add it to your water you ask? Well the reason everyone touts is that uh….because studies show Fluoride is good for teeth, reducing cavities and improving enamel. They will even put this on your water report.
There is data to support this, however, I tend to do my own research and found some interesting stuff:
Studies do show decrease in bacteria and cavities associated with Fluoride levels at 2 mL / L or lower, above that actually can cause fluorosis (brown spots) and even cause skeletal fluorosis which can make your bones more fragile and stiff among other things.
All 51 states and the District of Columbia Provide water fluoridation at some level.
Fluorite is the primary mineral that is used to fluoridate our water and the largest provider in the USA potentially sources this from China or Mexico because they have the worlds leading producers of the minerals and doubt the largest provider in the USA can do all the processing with 200 employees.
For some odd reason the FDA does not oversee added Fluoride to our water supply even though evidently its a “medicine" in purpose to aid in prevention of tooth decay. Therefore, they never did the studies that even they do for multivitamins we give our kids…nothing.
Some levels of Fluoride are natural in well water, but that isn’t justification that its okay.
Okay at this point what is my take away?
Personally, I am going to try to eliminate Fluoride in my kids water especially under 12 years old and also I am going to be aware of my water sources. The reasons for me are pretty simple:
My kids drink the water they dont hold it in their mouths, they swallow it so what cavity protection is getting to the teeth?
Many of my kids are younger than those in the studies and with the pace of cognitive development in the early years that seems like a lot of risk, plus I have never seen a 2 year old with a cavity much less all their teeth or even their adult teeth.
There are other options to reducing the potential for cavities (jury is still out on Fluoride toothpaste for me however).
I am not sure I want to risk foreign additives to my drinking water.
I would like to see if tap water really impacts, provides health benefits, and I feel awful for parents who mix formula with fluoridated water, (turns out breast milk is a pretty good filter for the water btw…but it goes to the women’s bones, however.)
Here at GreatorGood we aren’t aiming to just add to anxiety we find options that you can supplant in your daily lives to potentially reduce the risks you choose. The products below are not our own but we vet them. We only ask you are considering a product like the one below use our links as we do receive a commission to keep info like this coming.
GreatorGood Options:
The APEC Water RO System: https://amzn.to/3Ya1U5k
My favorite option to decrease Fluoride in your water is a Reverse Osmosis System. This purifies the water 85-92%. So if you have that 2.5 ml/L it would bring it to 0.2 mL/L.
Also Reverse Osmosis system that add alkaline help to increase the pH level and ensure its not so pure it pulls nutrients out of your body.
The system we like is this one. We have used it exhaustively and love it. We added a special faucet to our kitchen sink and ran a line to our refrigerator (super easy btw): https://amzn.to/3Ya1U5k
GreatorGood Options:
So say you are concerned but the price or installation may seem daunting, never fear we have some solutions for you in this orGood section or where you can make a noticeable impact with a compromize.
The EPICWATER Filter: https://amzn.to/3ZStp4P:
We like this pure charcoal Block Filter from Amazon because fridge filters do not remove some impurities like heavy metals and fluorides, which can create health concerns in large quantity, however this unit can remove up to 60% of fluorides (because some isotopes of fluoride it doesnt work with unlike RO Water in the great section). So this option would make the water in the above example of 2.5 mL/L to a more acceptable 1 mL/L.
2. The Brio Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser: https://amzn.to/3ZStp4P
This is a great option to put in a kitchen (ours is in our garage) to use the store bought 5 gallon bottles of water. Not only is it less waste than the RO system, it also tastes great and if you buy Primo water (which is awesome) it is not Fluoridated! You will however have to purchase the water which at the time of this writing is ~ $7 for 5 gallons of Primo water at Wal-mart ($13 for first purchase, $7 for exchanges). My family of 5 goes through ~5 gallons every 9 days.
Thanks for Reading. We would love to hear from you: Contact us or sign up for our newsletter.
