Fluoridated water boosts brain power

Artificial fluoridation of public water supplies, which reduces dental caries, tooth decay, and dental health disparities, is one of the 20th century’s great public health achievements. The idea began with the observation that communities where the natural levels of fluoride in the water is high had unusually low levels of dental decay. 

When I was growing up in East Tennessee, the John Birch Society and other right-wingers considered water fluoridation to be a communist plot. If so, the commies not only plotted to put dentists out of business, but it appears that it made me and my high school classmates smarter. No wonder we won the Cold War.

From a recent Science Advances paper:


“We use data from the nationally representative (United States) High School and Beyond cohort, characterize fluoride exposure from drinking water across adolescence, adjust for confounders, and observe cognitive test performance in both secondary school and at age ~60. We find that children exposed to recommended levels of fluoride in drinking water exhibit modestly better cognition in secondary school, an advantage that is smaller and no longer statistically significant at age ~60.”

 

https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/sciadv.adz0757

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