Not just fatty junk food that lowers IQ

Not just fatty junk food that lowers IQ

To protect your child’s intelligence, keep them away from fluoride as well as fatty processed foods. British research just published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health shows lowering of IQ from exposure to processed foods at a young age. But over 20 separate studies in the last 10 years link fluoride exposure to lowered IQ also.

Fluoride was classed as “an emerging neurotoxin” in the medical journal Lancet in 2007, the same year a scientific consensus statement was issued regarding fluoride’s toxicity to the developing brain.[1]

“Most importantly, do not make up baby formula with fluoridated water, and do not give young children fluoridated toothpaste – especially adult strength fluoridated toothpaste. But if you do, make sure they rinse it all out,” advises Mark Atkin of health group Fluoride Action Network NZ.

The US Government and American Dental Association recommended in 2006 against using water with 0.7 ppm or more fluoride when making up baby formula. New Zealand Ministry of Health recommends 0.7 to 1 ppm fluoride in drinking water, making it unsuitable for babies. It refuses to recognise the US warning. Yet the same risk was identified by Food Standards Australia NZ in 1997.

Both the Ministry and the NZ Dental Association also recommend parents give their children adult strength, not child strength, fluoride toothpaste, against manufacturers’ recommendations, and NOT rinse out the surplus.

“This is gross negligence,” say Mr Atkin, a qualified lawyer. “Adult strength toothpaste has 1000 ppm fluoride. Swallowing even a small amount, by not rinsing out surplus, causes spike levels of fluoride in the blood equal to those shown to cause neurological damage in laboratory rats. The Ministry has a statutory duty to protect health. Its recommendations regarding fluoride breach that duty. It is completely out of step with the international community on fluoridation.”

“Total exposure to fluoride today is at least six times that recorded in the 1940s, when water fluoridation was first promoted, in the belief it would help reduce tooth decay,” advises Mr Atkin. It is in water, toothpaste, pesticide residues, on fruit, in fruit juice (without warning), and in many drugs, such as Prozac.

“We need to limit our exposure to fluoride, to protect our health. This is most important for young children when the rapidly growing brain is most susceptible to toxic damage” concludes Mr Atkin.

Mark Atkin

[1] Scientific Consensus Statement on Neurodevelopmental Disorders 2007