2019 & 2020 Research / Fluoride, Obesity, and Brain Development

August 19, 2019: After a major peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Pediatrics (Green et al.) found that higher fluoride intake of pregnant women correlated with lower IQ scores in male children, fluoridation promoters tried to discredit the research: "I find these sex differences difficult to explain." – Dr. Alastair Hay, professor emeritus of environmental toxicology, National Health Service (UK) "There is no sensible biochemical reason for why fluoride would harm the brains of boys but not those of girls." – Alex Berezow, Ph.D, American Council on Science and Heath Really?

OBESITY:
A Link Between Maternal Fluoride
and Lower IQ Scores in Boys

Fluoride Linked to Maternal Obesity A large-scale cross-sectional study on school-age children found a significant association between low-to-moderate fluoride exposure and obesity in girls. [Liu L, et al. Nov. 2019] A 2020 study concluded that higher fluoride exposure levels at the time around puberty were "significantly associated with increased levels of cardiometabolic risk factors in Mexican girls but not boys." "The mechanisms by which fluoride exerts its impact on metabolic syndrome are not entirely understood: however, fluoride may induce oxidative stress and inflammation, and disrupt sex hormones, all of which have been recognized to play a major role in obesity... "These findings are biologically plausible. It has been shown that exposure to fluoride may lead to decreased serum estrogen and progesterone levels in females." [Liu Y, et al. 2020]

How Fluoride Can Cause Obesity Especially in Boys: "Maternal obesity is associated with decreased placental antioxidant enzyme activity. In the obese woman the placenta of a male has the highest oxidative stress." [Evans & Myatt 2017] Oxidative stress is a well-established molecular mechanism of fluoride toxicity. In 2014, Myatt et al. reported on mitochondrial dysfunction in placentas with maternal obesity. Mitochondrial dysfunction can result from abnormal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which are particularly sensitive to environmental factors because of their lack of repair capacity. A recent study showed that circulating mtDNA levels were inversely associated with low-to-moderate concentrations of water fluoride and urinary fluoride. Also, there was a "stronger inverse relationship with relative mtDNA levels in boys than in girls." [Zhou G, et al. 2019] * * * * * * * A team of researchers have identified "peroxynitrite as the precise oxidant molecule that increases blood pressure in obesity." – University of Virginia Health System (March 2020) "Neurotoxicity of fluoride is associated with overproduction of nitric oxide and peroxynitrite." [Shuhua et al. 2012]

Maternal Obesity Linked to Lower IQ in Boys Maternal obesity in pregnancy is "associated with lower IQ among boys, but not girls." [Widen et al. Dec. 2019] There was a significant association between maternal prepregnancy obesity and child cognitive test scores that could not be explained by other intrauterine, family background, maternal, and child factors. "Female gender and first-born were positively associated with higher test scores." [Tanda et al. 2013] Other studies may have gender data not stated in their Abstract: A study observed consistently stronger associations for maternal prepregnancy obesity and lower IQ in their children. [Coo et al. Oct. 2019] From the available evidence, it seems that exposure to maternal prepregnancy obesity in the intrauterine environment has a detrimental effect on children's cognitive development. [Adane et al. 2016]

New England Journal of Medicine, Dec. 2019:
"By 2030 nearly 1 in 2 adults will have obesity...
Nearly 1 in 4 adults is projected to have severe obesity...
the most common BMI category among women."

Correlation: Fluoridation and Obesity
In the 21 US states whose public water supplies are over 80% fluoridated,
the prevalence of obesity in adults averages 8.9% higher than in the
29 states fluoridated below 80%. [CDC 2016; CDC 2018]

In the 10 most fluoridated states, obesity prevalence
averages 12.3% higher than in the 10 least fluoridated states.

Perfluorinated Compounds A team of researchers found that the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) plays a key role in the metabolism of obesity. "Blockage of the AHR prevents and reverses obesity." [New mechanism may safely prevent and reverse obesity, Jan. 2020] A growing body of literature suggests that exposure to synthetic polyfluoroalkyl chemicals are associated with adverse reproductive outcomes in women. Compared with women drinking bottled water, drinking tap water was associated with significant increases in PFDA blood levels in 905 reproductive aged women. [Zhou W, et al. 2019] Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are perfluorinated compounds that widely exist in the environment and can elicit adverse effects including endocrine disruption in humans and animals. A study concluded that PFAAs possess an endocrine-disrupting potential by interfering with thyroid hormone (TH) and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) functions. "PFDA elicited an activating effect on the AHR." [Long et al. 2013] Fluoride Affects Intelligence Via Thyroid Function Wang M, et al. (Jan. 2020): • "Low-moderate fluoride was related to alterations in childhood thyroid function." • "Fluoride exposure was associated with a decrease in children's intelligence."

Obesity: From Womb to Tomb

"It has long been known that obesity impairs metabolism and predisposes
to diabetes and heart disease. New research shows that the effects of maternal
obesity even pass across generations to offspring, accelerating the rate of aging
of metabolic problems that occur in normal life." (Univ. of Wyoming, Oct. 2019)

Obesity Increases Risk of Preterm Birth "Maternal overweight and obesity has, due to the high prevalence and associated risks, replaced smoking as the most important preventable risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes in many countries," said researchers at the Karolinska Institutet. Their study of 1.5 million deliveries in Sweden found that women with the highest Body Mass Index also had the highest statistical risk of giving preterm birth. [Cnattingius 2013; Karolinska Institutet 2013] In the US, where preterm delivery rates are twice as high as in Sweden, 53% of pregnant women are either overweight or obese – compared to 34% of pregnant women in Sweden. (Sweden has prohibited water fluoridation since 1971.) Preterm birth is the "leading cause of long-term neurological disabilities in children." * * * * * * * Obesity Linked to Higher Dementia Risk University College London, June 23, 2020 Obesity is associated with a higher risk of dementia up to 15 years later. The findings suggest that "people who are obese in late adulthood face a 31% increased risk of dementia than those whose body mass index (BMI) is within the 'normal' range. The risk may be particularly high for women." Correlation: Fluoridation and Dementia In the 10 most fluoridated states Alzheimer's death rates average 25% higher than in the 10 least fluoridated states. (See Fluoride and Life Decay.)

Pregnancy and Fluoride Do Not Mix