Comment by FridgeSeal
19 days ago
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.
19 days ago
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.
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
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.
In Germany having salt with added fluoride is very common. There is salt without it if you don’t want it though.
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.
> 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_countr...)
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You are right, iodine is the more common one. Fluoride is a less common additive.
Are the levels in water consistently checked?
of course they are. tap water is continually monitored for the chemical composition. there are aprooved norms that need to be met. (LT)
At least in Germany, tap water is subject to higher standards than bottled water.
In most European countries, tap water is one of the most tested food products, and the standards are often stricter than for bottled water.