Fluoride and Anxiety

weight lossThe addition of fluoride containing salts to drinking water supplies is controversial. The purpose of such additions, we are told, it to reduce the prevalence of dental caries. However, even if this is true, and evidence is equivocal on this point, this still means that a large number of people are being exposed to a medicine without their consent. Fluoride is toxic to humans, and evidence suggests that it may have detrimental effects on human metabolism through impairment of organ and brain function. With regard the latter, fluoride may be able to alter neurochemistry. A number of studies have investigated the effects of fluoride on mood. For example, in one study, researchers administered 0.3 or 40 ppm fluoride to mice for 90 days. The researchers then exposed the mice to experimental stress to induce either depression or anxiety. The results of the research showed that the addition of fluoride to water at higher concentrations had no effects on depression, but did significantly increase anxious behaviour in the mice.

sodium fluoride anxiety

Are plant based diets protective of fluoride toxicity? Sodium fluoride may be able to cause detrimental changes to the neurochemistry of mammals. This relates to the fact that fluoride salts are toxic to cells and tissues. However, the metabolic fate of fluoride can be altered through changes to diet. Evidence indicates that the acid base balance of the individual can have a significant effect on fluoride excretion rates and on the symptoms of fluoride toxicity. For example, it has been demonstrated in rats, that alkalising the blood increases the excretion rate of fluoride and is able to significantly increase the dose of fluoride administered before toxicity symptoms occur. In fact, rats with alkalised blood survived twice as long as control rats. In addition, the amount of fluoride entering the tissue is reduce in rats with alkalised blood, and more of the fluoride remains in the blood. Alkalised blood therefore may desensitise rats to the toxicity of fluoride and this mechanism may involve enhanced renal clearance and lower cellular accumulation of the fluoride. Plant diets can alkalise blood because they contain high amounts of potassium salts. In contrast the typical Western diet causes acidification of the blood because it contains high amounts of animal protein that can increase sulphuric acid production. Plant diets may therefore increase excretion of fluoride and protect tissues from the toxicity associated with fluoride, whereas the typical Western diet may have no such protective effects.

Therefore fluoride added to drinking water may have anxiogenic effects. The ability of fluoride to alter brain neurochemistry was demonstrated in another study where mice were exposed to sodium fluoride of different concentrations at age 4 weeks. Compared to water treated controls, the mice exposed to sodium fluoride showed significant behavioural changes that were indicative of alterations to brain neurochemistry. In particular, the mice exhibited behaviour that suggested they had developed cognitive deficits and anxiety and depression. This supports other studies that have also demonstrated that sodium fluoride administration has the potential to cause memory and learning difficulties in rats. In humans, it has been shown that the intelligence quotient of children living in high fluoridation areas is lower than in children living in low fluoridiaton areas. In other human studies, reaction times and abstract thinking was lower in areas with fluoridated water compared to non-fluoridated water supplies.

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Kivrak, Y. and Turkey, K. 2012. Effects of fluoride on anxiety and depression in mice. Fluoride. 45(3): 302-306
Liu, F., Ma, J., Zhang, H., Liu, P., Liu, Y. P., Xing, B. and Dang, Y. H. 2014. Fluoride exposure during development affects both cognition and emotion in mice. Physiology and Behavior. 124: 1-7
Reynolds, K. E., Whitford, G. M. and Pashley, D. H. 1978. Acute fluoride toxicity: the influence of acid-base status. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. 45(2): 415-427
Chioca, L. R., Raupp, I. M., Da Cunha, C., Losso, E. M. and Andreatini, R. 2008. Subchronic fluoride intake induces impairment in habituation and active avoidance tasks in rats. European Journal of Pharmacology. 579(1): 196-201
Wang, S. X., Wang, Z. H., Cheng, X. T., Li, J., Sang, Z. P., Zhang, X. D., Han, L., Qiao, X., Wu, Z. and Wang, Z. Q. 2007. Arsenic and fluoride exposure in drinking water: children’s IQ and growth in Shanyin county, Shanxi province, China. Environmental Health Perspectives. 115(4): 643-647

About Robert Barrington

Robert Barrington is a writer, nutritionist, lecturer and philosopher.
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