Will self-administered water and fluoride be harmful to health? Professor s Discussion on Related Research and Related Research on Inflammation, Fracture and Bone Cancer

 7:54am, 1 June 2025

Trump once again chose the president of the United States on November 5 this year. He said at an October 27th campaign: "Rober Kennedy Jr. cares more about humanity, health and environment than anyone else. I will let him do whatever he wants in health (policy). I will let him do what he wants in food (policy). I will let him do what he wants in medicine (policy).

The next day I posted on my face that Trump's words showed that Kennedy could become the next health secretary. Sure enough, Trump announced nine days after his election that he nominated Kennedy as Secretary of Health.

Kennedy has no medical background and is named anti-mainstream medicine. He posted a post on X social media three days before Trump's election (2024-11-2): "On January 20, Trump's White House suggested that all American water systems remove fluoride. Fluoride is an industrial waste and is related to inflammation, fractures, bone cancer, reduced IQ, neurodevelopment disorders and thyroid diseases."

But, will the addition of fluoride in water really cause these diseases?

The United States first implemented Community Water Fluoridation in a small town called Grand Rapids in 1945, increasing the fluoride concentration in the water to 1 ppm. As for why, please read my next article "Fluorine in Drink, Natural, Added".

This measure of water fluorination has been later introduced to other communities and has now become the mainstream. However, the U.S. Department of Health proposed to adjust the concentration to 0.7 ppm in 2015, so most of the U.S. communities currently contain 0.7 ppm of fluorine. I have been drinking this kind of water for more than 40 years. In 1984, the World Health Organization suggested that members should adjust the fluorine concentration in the water to between 0.5 and 1 ppm according to their respective circumstances. This suggestion has not changed so far.

So, when we are asking "Is there any health risks when adding fluorine from water to water?", we must first understand that this problem only involves fluorine between 0.5 and 1 ppm. Unfortunately, the evidence against fluoride in water is almost all from studies above 1 ppm.

Regarding osteoarthritis, the latest study is Relatively low fluoride in drinking water increase risk of knee osteoarthritis (KOA): a population-based cross-sectional study in China [Relatively low amounts of fluoride in drinking water increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis (KOA): A cross-sectional study based on Chinese population].

This article says in Introduction: "Previous studies have shown that higher fluoride content in drinking water is related to higher osteopathic inflammation risks. However, due to the design, fewer samples, lower statistical efficacy, and no dosage response relationships. The epidemiological evidence of fluoride and osteopathic inflammation is not very powerful due to clear reasons such as uncontrollable complex factors, self-reporting symptoms, and other reasons. "

This article said in the Conclusion" that "this study found that excessive fluoride in drinking water can increase the risk of knee inflammation."

However, in fact, its Table 2 shows that fluoride concentration is not positively related to the incidence of inflammation. For example, when the concentration is between 0.3855 and 0.4600 ppm, the incidence rate is 35%, while when the concentration is between 0.4600 and 0.6837 ppm, the incidence rate actually drops to 20%.

So, the result of this study is that it said in critical of previous studies that “dose response relationship is unknown.”

Regarding fractures, the latest study is the Community Water Fluoridation and Rate of Pediatric Fractures published in 2023. Conclusion: Higher degree of water fluorination is related to the higher incidence of supracondylar fractures of humeral and double forearm fractures in children between the ages of 4 and 10 years old. These findings do not mean causal relationships, but they suggest that further studies on the effects of fluoride on children's bone health may be needed.

However, please note that in the Introduction, this article says: "A small amount of fluoride has been proven to induce bone formation by stimulating osteoblastic cells and inhibiting osteoclastic cells."

It also states in the Discussion (1) Children's bone health is a complex and subtle topic. One significant limitation of this study is the lack of detailed understanding of other factors that may lead to fragile fractures in children. (2) The effects of fluoride in drinking water on adult facial fractures have been widely studied, but the results of these studies are not conclusive.

Most importantly, the results of this study are also "dose response relationships are unknown."

The latest research on bone cancer is Exposure to fluoride and risk of primary bone cancer: A systematic review. Its conclusion is: 12 of

14 studies did not find a clear connection between fluoride and proactive bone cancer. Two studies reported that fluoride was positively related to bone cancer in young men.

The methodological quality of most studies is relatively low, which affects the reliability of the research results.

The latest research on IQ is among three papers published this year:

Fluoride and children’s IQ: evidence of causation lacking

Flawed MIREC fluoride and intelligence quotient publications: A failed attempt to undermine community water fluoridation

Associations of gestational and childhood exposure to lead, cadmium, and fluoride with cognitive abilities, behavior, and social communication at 4 years of age: NICE birth cohort study. The conclusion related to fluorine is that fluoride exposure has nothing to do with children's comprehensive knowledge or language knowledge.

Regarding thyroid function, the latest research is two papers published this year:

Is there any association between fluoride exposure and thyroid function modulation? A system review. The conclusion of this article is "there is potential connection between long-term exposure to high levels of fluorine and thyroid injury." However, please note that the so-called "high level" refers to "2.53 to 6.23 ppm" that is irrelevant to the fluorination of water.

Does fluoride exposure affect thyroid function? A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. The conclusion of this article is consistent with the previous article, that is, "Fluorination infiltration is only related to decreased thyroid function if it is above 2.5 ppm."

In summary, up to now, there has been no evidence that the addition of fluorine (upper limit of 1 ppm) is confirmed to be closely related to inflammation, fractures, bone cancer, IQ reduction or thyroid disease (not to mention causality). However, please don't mistakenly think that I want to add fluorine if I am a self-contained water. Please read the next article "Fluorine in Drink, Natural, Added".

Original text: Is there any health risks when adding fluorine on your own?

Responsible editor: Gu Zihuan