According to a study published in the July 1997 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), new research suggests that young children may be getting more fluoride than they need through baby foods.
“Our main concern is that these young children could be at increased risk for mild to moderate dental fluorosis by ingesting too much fluoride,” says Steven M. Levy, DDS, one of the authors of the JADA study from the College of Dentistry at the University of Iowa.
In Taber’s Medical Dictionary, the definition of fluorosis is: “Chronic fluorine poisoning, sometimes marked by mottling of the tooth enamel. Often results from too much fluoride in the drinking water.” The tooth mottling occurs on permanent teeth while they are still still forming. Using instances of dental fluorosis as an indicator, poor children are affected at a rate of 2.3 : 1 as compared to children from higher income families. This ratio suggests that the toxic contaminants associated with fluosilicic acid would also affect children’s health in the same proportion
“It’s important for parents to know how much fluoride their children are getting, whether it’s through the water supply, fluoride supplements, fluoridated toothpaste or baby food,” Dr. Levy stated.
The researchers analyzed the fluoride concentration of 238 commercially available infant foods. They took samples for analysis from 206 ready-to-eat infant foods and 32 dry infant cereals, which they prepared with water according to the manufacturer’s directions.
The results of the analysis reveal ready-to-eat foods with chicken had the highest fluoride concentrations.
One of the reasons for the high fluoride concentrations in infant foods with chicken may be because of the processing method, according to the study. The mechanical deboning process may leave skin and residual bone particles in the food. Much of fluoride is stored in bone; therefore, the higher concentrations in the chicken-containing products.
The researchers also found that dry infant cereals that are reconstituted with fluoridated water may noticeably increase the levels of fluoride in a child’s daily intake.
“What we found in this study is fluoride concentrations for the majority of all the products tested varied widely because of the different water sources used to process the foods,” Dr. Levy explains. “The differences can be traced to the manufacturing sites that use a fluoridated municipal water supply as compared to a non-fluoridated city or well water.”
The American Dental Association reminds consumers that drinking water fluoridated at the recommended level or eating foods prepared or processed with fluoridated water is safe and effective (“ADA warns: fluoride risk in baby food”. 1997 The American Dental Association, Chicago, IL.)
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