(Contributed Post)
Beyond heavy metals, there are quite a few minerals that are currently drawing attention from wellness experts. Fluoride is one that you might have seen pop up lately. It’s important to ask: is it all a fad or are there real risks to our health? Let’s take a look at how too much fluoride can impact your body and what you can do to prevent it.
The impact of too much fluoride
Fluoride can be useful, in small amounts, in preventing tooth decay amongst all else. However, too much fluoride can lead to conditions known as dental and skeletal fluorosis. This can lead to damage, pain, and increased elasticity in bones and teeth, making them more likely to experience fractures, as well as a decrease in general mobility. High fluoride levels have also been linked to thyroid problems, as well as depleting calcium in bone structures. But where does this exceed fluoride come from?
Is it in your water?
Most tap water has fluoride added to it in an effort to prevent tooth decay in every household. However, natural fluoride levels can fluctuate, rising especially in warmer areas where water consumption is greater. Water filters are a popular means of cleaning drinking water at home but does reverse osmosis remove fluoride? The answer is that not all reverse osmosis filters can remove this mineral from your water, meaning that you need to see which ones have been tested for this mineral in particular, rather than just purchasing any that you see.
Be mindful of dental treatments
Fluoride in toothpaste is all well and good. However, you should make sure that you don’t use more than a pea-size amount for children, and don’t use too much yourself. However, while fluoride can be safe for cleaning your teeth directly, swallowing fluoride from this toothpaste, even a little bit, results in getting more than your daily recommended amount. You should also be mindful of fluoride gel treatments that dentists tend to offer to prevent the risk of cavities. While they do indeed help decrease cavities, they also result in absorbing much more fluoride than you should get in a single day.
Watch out for pesticide use
A lot of farms and vineyards use pesticides that contain fluoride, with cryolite being the most popular amongst them. As a result, products from these places, especially a lot of US wines, tend to have a much higher level of fluoride than others. For that reason, you should make sure that you choose wines that outright state they do not use any pesticides in their production. Choosing organic wines tend to be the easiest way to avoid choosing any that have any pesticides at all in them.
The concerns around fluoride are not easy to dismiss. While there is real concern about this mineral, you can be proactive and take the steps mentioned above to minimize exposure and reduce its health effects.
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