4 ms·

IIRC _some_ of the European countries that “do not fluoridate their water” have naturally occurring fluoride levels in their water, obviating the need for them

IIRC _some_ of the European countries that “do not fluoridate their water” have naturally occurring fluoride levels in their water, obviating the need for them to do it.

ekianjo 2y ago
Are the levels in water consistently checked?
- vincnetas 2y ago
  of course they are. tap water is continually monitored for the chemical composition. there are aprooved norms that need to be met. (LT)
  - Xylakant 2y ago
    At least in Germany, tap water is subject to higher standards than bottled water.
- Beretta_Vexee 2y ago
  In most European countries, tap water is one of the most tested food products, and the standards are often stricter than for bottled water.
ManBeardPc 2y ago
In Germany having salt with added fluoride is very common. There is salt without it if you don’t want it though.
- weinzierl 2y ago
  That is not true. You are probably thinking of iodine. Actually fluoride is prohibited in children's toothpaste in Germany because of its suspected neurotoxicity. EDIT: I checked. It is possible to buy salt with added fluoride in Germany but it comes with the health note "Zusätzliche fluoridhaltige Präparate sollten nur auf ärztliche Empfehlung eingenommen werden.", which means you should only use it on recommendation by your MD.
  - ManBeardPc 2y ago
    You are right, iodine is the more common one. Fluoride is a less common additive.
  - Xelynega 2y ago
    > Actually fluoride is prohibited in children's toothpaste in Germany because of its suspected neurotoxicity. I can't find any information on this, do you have a source? According to Wikipedia fluoride toothpaste is recommended by health officials in Germany for children(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_country#cite_note-90 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_countr...)
    - weinzierl 2y ago
      Thanks for pointing that out. I wrote "prohibited" from what I remembered when my child was little and the discrepancy to the info you provided made me research the topic, so here is a summary of what the law (1223/2009 Cosmetic Products Regulation Annex III) has to say: Tooth paste with more than one per mille of fluoride has either to be marked as unsuitable for children or has to have a note that children have to be supervised using it and a doctor or dentist has to be consulted in case the child swallows more than a pea-sized amount. So, not quite prohibited, but far from recommended.
Beretta_Vexee 2y ago
In fact, many countries even have a maximum permissible limit for fluoride in tap and bottled water. In France, for example, the limit is 1.5 mg/L in tap water. https://www.anses.fr/en/system/files/NUT2007sa0315q.pdf https://www.anses.fr/en/system/files/NUT2007sa0315q.pdf Supplementation mainly concerns iodine for non-marine salts. Sea salt naturally contains iodine and fluorine. Salt from salt mines contains much less. For this reason, iodine deficiency was relatively common in the Alps until the beginning of the twentieth century. To my knowledge, there is no debate or controversy on the subject. Endemic goiters are exceedingly rare and are linked to behavioral and eating disorders.

IIRC _some_ of the European countries that “do not fluoridate their water” have naturally occurring fluoride levels in their water, obviating the need for them to do it.

ekianjo 2y ago

Are the levels in water consistently checked?

vincnetas 2y ago
of course they are. tap water is continually monitored for the chemical composition. there are aprooved norms that need to be met. (LT)
- Xylakant 2y ago
  At least in Germany, tap water is subject to higher standards than bottled water.
Beretta_Vexee 2y ago
In most European countries, tap water is one of the most tested food products, and the standards are often stricter than for bottled water.

ManBeardPc 2y ago

In Germany having salt with added fluoride is very common. There is salt without it if you don’t want it though.

weinzierl 2y ago
That is not true. You are probably thinking of iodine. Actually fluoride is prohibited in children's toothpaste in Germany because of its suspected neurotoxicity. EDIT: I checked. It is possible to buy salt with added fluoride in Germany but it comes with the health note "Zusätzliche fluoridhaltige Präparate sollten nur auf ärztliche Empfehlung eingenommen werden.", which means you should only use it on recommendation by your MD.
- ManBeardPc 2y ago
  You are right, iodine is the more common one. Fluoride is a less common additive.
- Xelynega 2y ago
  > Actually fluoride is prohibited in children's toothpaste in Germany because of its suspected neurotoxicity. I can't find any information on this, do you have a source? According to Wikipedia fluoride toothpaste is recommended by health officials in Germany for children(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_country#cite_note-90 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_countr...)
  - weinzierl 2y ago
    Thanks for pointing that out. I wrote "prohibited" from what I remembered when my child was little and the discrepancy to the info you provided made me research the topic, so here is a summary of what the law (1223/2009 Cosmetic Products Regulation Annex III) has to say: Tooth paste with more than one per mille of fluoride has either to be marked as unsuitable for children or has to have a note that children have to be supervised using it and a doctor or dentist has to be consulted in case the child swallows more than a pea-sized amount. So, not quite prohibited, but far from recommended.

Beretta_Vexee 2y ago

In fact, many countries even have a maximum permissible limit for fluoride in tap and bottled water. In France, for example, the limit is 1.5 mg/L in tap water. https://www.anses.fr/en/system/files/NUT2007sa0315q.pdf https://www.anses.fr/en/system/files/NUT2007sa0315q.pdf Supplementation mainly concerns iodine for non-marine salts. Sea salt naturally contains iodine and fluorine. Salt from salt mines contains much less. For this reason, iodine deficiency was relatively common in the Alps until the beginning of the twentieth century. To my knowledge, there is no debate or controversy on the subject. Endemic goiters are exceedingly rare and are linked to behavioral and eating disorders.