HEALTH
EFFECTS: Fluoride & Bone Disease
DIRECTORY: FAN
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Bone Disease
Fluoride
& Bone - Skeletal
Fluorosis: (Click for more detail)
Excessive exposure to fluoride causes an arthrtiic
bone disease called skeletal fluorosis.
Skeletal fluorosis, especially in its early
stages, is a difficult
disease to diagnose, and can be readily confused with various
forms of arthritis
including osteoarthritis,
and rheumatoid
arthritis.
In the advanced stages, fluorosis can resemble a multitude
of bone/joint diseases, including: osteosclerosis,
renal osteodystrophy,
DISH, spondylosis,
osteomalacia,
osteoporosis, and secondary
hyperparathyroidism.
The risk of developing fluorosis, and the course
the disease will take, is influenced by the presence of certain
predisposing
factors, including impaired
kidney function; dietary
deficiencies; gastric
acidity; and
repetitive stress.
While only a limited number of studies have documented the disease
in the U.S., it is almost certain
that other cases of the disease have occurred but escaped detection.
Fluoride & Bone - Bone
Fracture: (Click for more
detail)
 1)
The vast majority of animal studies
investigating fluoride's effect on bone strength, have found fluoride
to have either no effect or a negative
effect on strength. Very few animal studies have found a beneficial
effect.
2) Studies on human populations
consuming fluoride in drinking water, have found an association
between dental
fluorosis and increased bone
fracture in children; and between long-term consumption of
fluoridated water and increased
hip fracture in the elderly.
3) Carefully conducted human
clinical trials - including two "double-blind trials"
- have found that fluoride (at doses of 18-34 mg/day for just
1-4 years) increases the rate of bone fracture, particularly hip
fracture, among osteoporosis patients.
4) Animal studies and human clinical trials indicate that fluoride
can reduce bone strength before
skeletal fluorosis is present.
Fluoride & Bone - Research
Gaps:
1) No systematic research exploring the incidence
of skeletal fluorosis among susceptible
subsets of the population including heavy
tea-drinkers and people with kidney
disease.
2) Other than 3 small, limited studies from the
1950s-1960s (Steinberg 1955, 1958; Ansell 1965), no research exploring
the relationship between fluoride exposure and arthritis
in the general population.
3) No comprehensive research exploring the doses
of fluoride capable of producing the early
stages of skeletal fluorosis, and how such doses vary based
on the presence or absence of predisposing
factors.
4) No research exploring how genetics
may influence the risk and nature of fluoride-induced bone effects
in the general population.
5) No comprehensive data in the US on the levels
of fluoride in the bone and blood of individuals in fluoridated
communities and the relationship of these levels to bone changes.
Fluoride & Bone
- CONTENTS of DATABASE:
A) Fluoride & Bone Fracture:
Data Compilation:
B) Skeletal Fluorosis:
Data Compilation:
Excerpted Papers:
C) Fluoride & Bone Density:
Data Compilation:
D) Fluoride & Bone Cells:
Data Compilation:
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