Children exposed to fluoridated water before the age of ten have a higher risk of a number of serious neurodevelopmental issues, a new study suggests.
The paper, published in BMC Pediatrics, shows that autism-spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability and other delays in development were all visible at higher rates among children exposed to fluoridated water before their tenth birthday.
The researchers behind the study, David and Mark Geier, are warning that the risks of water fluoridation must be carefully reassessed.
They analyzed data from the Independent Healthcare Research Database, taken from de-identified healthcare records from the Florida Medicaid System during the period 1990-2012.
Since some counties in Florida have municipal fluoridation and others don’t, they were able to compare the health of children exposed to water fluoridation for their whole lives—over 25,000 children—with the health of around 2,500 children who weren’t.
The researchers examined fluoride exposure and health outcomes during the first year and the first ten years of life.
The results showed that in the first year of life, there was a statistically significant decrease in the risk of tooth decay with exposure to fluoridated water, as well as a statistically significant increase in the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.
The ten-year results were much more striking. After ten years of fluoride exposure, the risk of tooth decay was nearly four times lower in exposed children, but the children had a significantly higher risk of developmental disorders—nearly seven times greater for autism and two times greater for intellectual disability, most notably.
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