Fluoride - The Crippling Toxin You Knowingly Consume Every Day...

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The Crippling Toxin You Knowingly Consume Every Day...

Posted By Dr. Mercola | August 10 2011 | 90,297 views

By The Fluoride Action Network

Dr. Mercola Recommends...

Every " Like " Helps Support This Cause

The fact that fluoride can damage your bones, often quite seriously,

is no longer in dispute. Just ask the millions of people throughout the

world who currently suffer from skeletal fluorosis­a crippling bone

disease caused by too much fluoride and marked by irregular bone growth

and calcification of the joints.

Of course, it takes a high dose of fluoride to cause crippling

fluorosis.

But fluoride accumulates over time, so the severity of skeletal

fluorosis exists along a continuum, with the earlier stages produced by

lower doses and marked by more subtle symptoms, such as joint pain and

stiffness.

These early symptoms, which may not be accompanied by obvious bone

changes, are often very hard to distinguish from common forms of

arthritis. And, indeed, researchers over the years have repeatedly

cautioned that the early stages of skeletal fluorosis may be misdiagnosed

as a form of arthritis.

In 2006, skeletal fluorosis was identified by the US National

Research Council (NRC) as an adverse effect that needs to be considered

by the EPA when lowering the maximum safe level of fluoride in

water. While case studies in recent years have documented advanced

skeletal fluorosis in the US among high-tea drinkers, the EPA has done no

serious analysis of the extent to which the disease may be occurring

throughout the country.

While fluoridation proponents and US health authorities claim that

clinically obvious skeletal fluorosis will only develop at prolonged

exposures to 10 milligrams (mg) of fluoride per day, virtually no

attention­and even less research­has focused on the earlier, less obvious

stages of the disease.

The fact that fluoride exposures in the U.S. are generally not high

enough to cause crippling fluorosis is therefore of little comfort when

taking into account that fluoride can cause non-diagnosable joint

problems well before the crippling stage sets in­especially in a country

where 60 million adults suffer from some form of arthritis. As noted by

Dr. Phyllis Mullenix,

" If I was an arthritic individual, I would be eliminating every

possible source of fluoride exposure that I could think

of. "

Fluoride Linked to the Development of Bone

Fractures

In addition to skeletal fluorosis, the National Research Council's

2006 landmark review of fluoride toxicity also expressed concern about

fluoride's ability to decrease bone strength and

increase the risk of fractures. Of particular concern was fluoride's

potential to increase hip fracture rates in the elderly, as hip fractures

often send elderly patients into a spiral of declining health ending in

death. Based on available evidence, the NRC concluded that fluoride

increases the rate of fracture at 4 ppm (the level currently considered

" safe " by the EPA), and noted that fluoride may increase the

fracture risk at levels lower than 4 ppm.

To understand fluoride's potential to damage bone structure, some

basic information about how fluoride acts in your body may be helpful.

First, up to half of ingested fluoride accumulates in your bones,

with the other half excreted in urine. Second, once fluoride enters your

bones it is removed very slowly. The NRC estimates, for instance,

that the biological half-life of fluoride in bone (the time for half of

it to be removed) is as long as 20 years. Third, most people have

constant low level exposures to fluoride, and are taking more fluoride

into their bones than is being removed. As a result, the fluoride level

in bone increases steadily with time.

Thus, whereas young people generally don't have more than a few

hundred parts per million (ppm) fluoride in their bones, older people

living in fluoridated areas can have several thousand ppm­a level where

skeletal fluorosis may begin.

Fourth, the ability to excrete fluoride in urine is significantly

decreased among individuals with impaired kidney function. This creates a

double-whammy for the elderly, for not only do they already have high

accumulated levels of fluoride in their bone, but – because kidney

function declines with age – they have a reduced ability to remove the

new fluoride entering their system.

Finally, fluoride appears to interfere with the process of bone

turnover (aka bone remodeling), wherein the mineral portion of bone is

broken down by one type of cell and rebuilt by another.

Specifically, fluoride may cause an irregular mineralization, where

the density of trabecular bone (which comprises the majority of the

spine) can increase at the expense of reductions in cortical bone (which

comprises the majority of the extremities). Since the integrity of

cortical bone is critical to hip strength, fluoride's ability to reduce

cortical bone density has been posited as a key mechanism explaining the

link between fluoride and hip fractures.

In the past, for example, when high doses of fluoride were given as

an experimental drug to osteoporotic patients, fluoride was consistently

found to both decrease cortical bone density and increase the rate of hip

fractures. Even when fluoride increases bone density, as it often does

with trabecular bone, it can simultaneously make your bone more brittle

and subject to fracture.

Recent Studies Shed New Light on Fluoridation and Bone

Density/Fracture

Whether water fluoridation can lead to high enough levels of fluoride

in bones to cause the type of alterations that can weaken them, remains

an unresolved question. About 20 epidemiological studies have tried

to find out, with mostly mixed results. Some of the studies suggest

that fluoridated water, at 1 ppm, can increase the risk of fractures,

whereas others have found no effect.

University of Toronto Study First in Humans to Show Fluoride and

Fracture Connection1

An important recent study from a team at the University of Toronto

tried a different approach. Instead of looking at the rate of

fractures in people exposed to varying amounts of fluoride, it used

samples of actual bone from people undergoing hip replacement to see

whether the fluoride concentration in bone correlated with the mechanical

strength of the tissue.

This type of study had previously been done on laboratory animals

(where increased concentrations of fluoride have been correlated with

decreased strength), but never in humans.

The Toronto study was completed in 2001 but not published until 2010.

The number of subjects in the study was small, with only 92 people, so

the results were not definitive and the authors themselves do not draw

any firm conclusions. Yet when the results are examined carefully,

there is clear evidence that the people with higher levels of fluoride in

their skeleton had weaker bones, by several different measurements of

bone quality.

This lends further support to the concept that fluoride, like

osteoporosis drugs, does make your bones denser, but may actually make

them weaker and more susceptible to fracture.

The most straightforward measurement of strength was the amount of

compression force the sample could withstand before breaking, which is

called the Ultimate Compressive Stress. The people with the highest

levels of fluoride in their bone had their sampled bone tissue break

under about 50 percent less stress than those with the lowest levels of

fluoride. This result was statistically significant.

University of Iowa Study2

Another recent study, from the University of Iowa, suggests that

fluoridated water might be causing subtle bone changes in young people,

long before the bone fluoride concentration reaches the high levels in

later life3. In the study, several types of

bone mineral density measurements were periodically made among a group of

children during the first 11 years of their life. Simultaneously, the

children's fluoride intake was also being monitored. When the authors

(led by a pro-fluoridationist dentist who owes his voluminous research

funding to the pro-fluoridation NIH), checked to see if there was any

association between fluoride intake and bone density, they concluded

there was no effect to be worried about.

For, while they found a slight reduction in bone density among girls,

they found a slight increase in density among the boys.

However, lost in the authors' discussion, was the important fact that

the alteration in bone density among the girls mirrored the changes that

have been found in high-dose clinical studies. Namely, when the

highest-exposed girls were compared with the lowest-exposed girls, the

highest-exposed girls had reductions in bone density in cortical-rich

bone (e.g. hip), but not in trabecular-rich bone (e.g. spine). These

reductions were statistically significant after 8.5 years of life, and

remained very close to significant after 11 years.

The fact that this same pattern has been consistently observed in

high dose clinical studies, suggests that this was not merely a random

finding, but could well represent a similar, albeit subtler, fluoride

effect on bone.

While the authors never discussed this possibility, they did note in

closing (without any explanation), that they plan to do further research

on how low-level fluoride intake may be related to " trabecular

versus cortical bone component outcomes. " In the meantime, however,

anyone reading the abstract to the study will be forgiven for having the

impression that their data gives fluoride a " clean bill of

health. "

Millions are Likely at Risk for Bone Fractures from Fluoride

Simply finding that water fluoridation may be sufficient to cause

changes in bone remodeling at both old and young ages is worrying.

However, when these two recent studies are seen in the light of earlier

work, the concern is heightened. In one of the best bone fracture studies

on adults to date4, it was found that hip

fracture rates increased steadily starting from the lowest fluoride level

examined, which was similar to what many Americans are getting from

fluoridated water.

In children, one of the only studies ever conducted on children

looked at fracture rates among Mexican youths in relation to dental

fluorosis, a developmental disorder of the growing teeth caused by too

much fluoride. The study, led by Alarcon-Herrera, and published in 2001,

found that bone fracture rates rose sharply with increasing severity of

dental fluorosis, and that the risk was heightened even among children

with " mild " fluorosis.

In the US today,

roughly 40 percent of all children have dental fluorosis, with

millions having " mild " fluorosis " and thousands having the

more severe stages. No U.S. study however, has yet attempted to

investigate fractures in children as a function of fluorosis.

Despite the fact that 170 million Americans now drink fluoridated

water every day, we continue to have little understanding on how the

consequent contamination of our food and water with fluoride is affecting

bone health.

While we know that fluoride at high doses clearly harms bone, and

while there are several worrying indications that similar harm is

occurring at the lower levels that Americans regularly ingest, the

absence of competent research by U.S. health authorities has enabled many

basic, fundamental questions to remain unanswered. Until researchers feel

free to report adverse findings on fluoride without fear of losing their

funding, this situation is likely to persist, to the possible peril of

millions of American's bone health.

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian

Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA

Vaccines -

http://vaccinationdangers.wordpress.com/ Homeopathy

http://homeopathycures.wordpress.com

Vaccine Dangers, Childhood Disease Classes & Homeopathy

Online/email courses - next classes start September 9

[Guest guest]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/10/fluoride-can-damage-your-bones.aspx?e_cid=20110810_DNL_art_1

The Crippling Toxin You Knowingly Consume Every Day...

Posted By Dr. Mercola | August 10 2011 | 90,297 views

By The Fluoride Action Network

Dr. Mercola Recommends...

Every " Like " Helps Support This Cause

The fact that fluoride can damage your bones, often quite seriously,

is no longer in dispute. Just ask the millions of people throughout the

world who currently suffer from skeletal fluorosis­a crippling bone

disease caused by too much fluoride and marked by irregular bone growth

and calcification of the joints.

Of course, it takes a high dose of fluoride to cause crippling

fluorosis.

But fluoride accumulates over time, so the severity of skeletal

fluorosis exists along a continuum, with the earlier stages produced by

lower doses and marked by more subtle symptoms, such as joint pain and

stiffness.

These early symptoms, which may not be accompanied by obvious bone

changes, are often very hard to distinguish from common forms of

arthritis. And, indeed, researchers over the years have repeatedly

cautioned that the early stages of skeletal fluorosis may be misdiagnosed

as a form of arthritis.

In 2006, skeletal fluorosis was identified by the US National

Research Council (NRC) as an adverse effect that needs to be considered

by the EPA when lowering the maximum safe level of fluoride in

water. While case studies in recent years have documented advanced

skeletal fluorosis in the US among high-tea drinkers, the EPA has done no

serious analysis of the extent to which the disease may be occurring

throughout the country.

While fluoridation proponents and US health authorities claim that

clinically obvious skeletal fluorosis will only develop at prolonged

exposures to 10 milligrams (mg) of fluoride per day, virtually no

attention­and even less research­has focused on the earlier, less obvious

stages of the disease.

The fact that fluoride exposures in the U.S. are generally not high

enough to cause crippling fluorosis is therefore of little comfort when

taking into account that fluoride can cause non-diagnosable joint

problems well before the crippling stage sets in­especially in a country

where 60 million adults suffer from some form of arthritis. As noted by

Dr. Phyllis Mullenix,

" If I was an arthritic individual, I would be eliminating every

possible source of fluoride exposure that I could think

of. "

Fluoride Linked to the Development of Bone

Fractures

In addition to skeletal fluorosis, the National Research Council's

2006 landmark review of fluoride toxicity also expressed concern about

fluoride's ability to decrease bone strength and

increase the risk of fractures. Of particular concern was fluoride's

potential to increase hip fracture rates in the elderly, as hip fractures

often send elderly patients into a spiral of declining health ending in

death. Based on available evidence, the NRC concluded that fluoride

increases the rate of fracture at 4 ppm (the level currently considered

" safe " by the EPA), and noted that fluoride may increase the

fracture risk at levels lower than 4 ppm.

To understand fluoride's potential to damage bone structure, some

basic information about how fluoride acts in your body may be helpful.

First, up to half of ingested fluoride accumulates in your bones,

with the other half excreted in urine. Second, once fluoride enters your

bones it is removed very slowly. The NRC estimates, for instance,

that the biological half-life of fluoride in bone (the time for half of

it to be removed) is as long as 20 years. Third, most people have

constant low level exposures to fluoride, and are taking more fluoride

into their bones than is being removed. As a result, the fluoride level

in bone increases steadily with time.

Thus, whereas young people generally don't have more than a few

hundred parts per million (ppm) fluoride in their bones, older people

living in fluoridated areas can have several thousand ppm­a level where

skeletal fluorosis may begin.

Fourth, the ability to excrete fluoride in urine is significantly

decreased among individuals with impaired kidney function. This creates a

double-whammy for the elderly, for not only do they already have high

accumulated levels of fluoride in their bone, but – because kidney

function declines with age – they have a reduced ability to remove the

new fluoride entering their system.

Finally, fluoride appears to interfere with the process of bone

turnover (aka bone remodeling), wherein the mineral portion of bone is

broken down by one type of cell and rebuilt by another.

Specifically, fluoride may cause an irregular mineralization, where

the density of trabecular bone (which comprises the majority of the

spine) can increase at the expense of reductions in cortical bone (which

comprises the majority of the extremities). Since the integrity of

cortical bone is critical to hip strength, fluoride's ability to reduce

cortical bone density has been posited as a key mechanism explaining the

link between fluoride and hip fractures.

In the past, for example, when high doses of fluoride were given as

an experimental drug to osteoporotic patients, fluoride was consistently

found to both decrease cortical bone density and increase the rate of hip

fractures. Even when fluoride increases bone density, as it often does

with trabecular bone, it can simultaneously make your bone more brittle

and subject to fracture.

Recent Studies Shed New Light on Fluoridation and Bone

Density/Fracture

Whether water fluoridation can lead to high enough levels of fluoride

in bones to cause the type of alterations that can weaken them, remains

an unresolved question. About 20 epidemiological studies have tried

to find out, with mostly mixed results. Some of the studies suggest

that fluoridated water, at 1 ppm, can increase the risk of fractures,

whereas others have found no effect.

University of Toronto Study First in Humans to Show Fluoride and

Fracture Connection1

An important recent study from a team at the University of Toronto

tried a different approach. Instead of looking at the rate of

fractures in people exposed to varying amounts of fluoride, it used

samples of actual bone from people undergoing hip replacement to see

whether the fluoride concentration in bone correlated with the mechanical

strength of the tissue.

This type of study had previously been done on laboratory animals

(where increased concentrations of fluoride have been correlated with

decreased strength), but never in humans.

The Toronto study was completed in 2001 but not published until 2010.

The number of subjects in the study was small, with only 92 people, so

the results were not definitive and the authors themselves do not draw

any firm conclusions. Yet when the results are examined carefully,

there is clear evidence that the people with higher levels of fluoride in

their skeleton had weaker bones, by several different measurements of

bone quality.

This lends further support to the concept that fluoride, like

osteoporosis drugs, does make your bones denser, but may actually make

them weaker and more susceptible to fracture.

The most straightforward measurement of strength was the amount of

compression force the sample could withstand before breaking, which is

called the Ultimate Compressive Stress. The people with the highest

levels of fluoride in their bone had their sampled bone tissue break

under about 50 percent less stress than those with the lowest levels of

fluoride. This result was statistically significant.

University of Iowa Study2

Another recent study, from the University of Iowa, suggests that

fluoridated water might be causing subtle bone changes in young people,

long before the bone fluoride concentration reaches the high levels in

later life3. In the study, several types of

bone mineral density measurements were periodically made among a group of

children during the first 11 years of their life. Simultaneously, the

children's fluoride intake was also being monitored. When the authors

(led by a pro-fluoridationist dentist who owes his voluminous research

funding to the pro-fluoridation NIH), checked to see if there was any

association between fluoride intake and bone density, they concluded

there was no effect to be worried about.

For, while they found a slight reduction in bone density among girls,

they found a slight increase in density among the boys.

However, lost in the authors' discussion, was the important fact that

the alteration in bone density among the girls mirrored the changes that

have been found in high-dose clinical studies. Namely, when the

highest-exposed girls were compared with the lowest-exposed girls, the

highest-exposed girls had reductions in bone density in cortical-rich

bone (e.g. hip), but not in trabecular-rich bone (e.g. spine). These

reductions were statistically significant after 8.5 years of life, and

remained very close to significant after 11 years.

The fact that this same pattern has been consistently observed in

high dose clinical studies, suggests that this was not merely a random

finding, but could well represent a similar, albeit subtler, fluoride

effect on bone.

While the authors never discussed this possibility, they did note in

closing (without any explanation), that they plan to do further research

on how low-level fluoride intake may be related to " trabecular

versus cortical bone component outcomes. " In the meantime, however,

anyone reading the abstract to the study will be forgiven for having the

impression that their data gives fluoride a " clean bill of

health. "

Millions are Likely at Risk for Bone Fractures from Fluoride

Simply finding that water fluoridation may be sufficient to cause

changes in bone remodeling at both old and young ages is worrying.

However, when these two recent studies are seen in the light of earlier

work, the concern is heightened. In one of the best bone fracture studies

on adults to date4, it was found that hip

fracture rates increased steadily starting from the lowest fluoride level

examined, which was similar to what many Americans are getting from

fluoridated water.

In children, one of the only studies ever conducted on children

looked at fracture rates among Mexican youths in relation to dental

fluorosis, a developmental disorder of the growing teeth caused by too

much fluoride. The study, led by Alarcon-Herrera, and published in 2001,

found that bone fracture rates rose sharply with increasing severity of

dental fluorosis, and that the risk was heightened even among children

with " mild " fluorosis.

In the US today,

roughly 40 percent of all children have dental fluorosis, with

millions having " mild " fluorosis " and thousands having the

more severe stages. No U.S. study however, has yet attempted to

investigate fractures in children as a function of fluorosis.

Despite the fact that 170 million Americans now drink fluoridated

water every day, we continue to have little understanding on how the

consequent contamination of our food and water with fluoride is affecting

bone health.

While we know that fluoride at high doses clearly harms bone, and

while there are several worrying indications that similar harm is

occurring at the lower levels that Americans regularly ingest, the

absence of competent research by U.S. health authorities has enabled many

basic, fundamental questions to remain unanswered. Until researchers feel

free to report adverse findings on fluoride without fear of losing their

funding, this situation is likely to persist, to the possible peril of

millions of American's bone health.

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian

Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA

Vaccines -

http://vaccinationdangers.wordpress.com/ Homeopathy

http://homeopathycures.wordpress.com

Vaccine Dangers, Childhood Disease Classes & Homeopathy

Online/email courses - next classes start September 9