Page 15 - Spring2012

Caustic Commentary

game changer for frozen foods” (www.foodproductiondaily. BUTTER TAX IN SWEDEN?
com, February 1, 2012). Sweden is considering a tax on saturated fat like the one enact-
ed recently in Denmark, with assertions that it will cut down
FLUORIDATION IN DECLINE on heart disease. But a study carried out in Sweden contradicts
About 72 percent of the U.S. population drinks water with such claims. The research was carried out in 2009 in the city of
added fluoride, but these numbers are finally starting to de- Växjö. Researchers assessed how compliance with the Nordic
cline. During the last four years, about two hundred jurisdic- nutritional recommendations affects the risk of coronary heart
tions, from Georgia to Alaska, have chosen to end the practice disease in rural Swedish farmers and non-farmers. Intake of
of adding fluoride to the water, including Pinellas County on foods related to nutritional recommendations was determined
Florida’s west coast and Fairbanks, Alaska. The vote to end by food frequency questionnaires at the beginning and near
fluoridation is motivated by two factors—tight budgets and the end of the study. Coronary heart disease risk was based
skepticism about its benefits. For example, Pinellas County on hospitalization or death due to CHD during the twelve-
will save over two hundred thousand dollars annually by year follow-up period. Swedish nutritional guidelines are
halting fluoride use. But the real opinion-changer has been summarized as follows: eat fruits and vegetables daily; eat
government warnings against overuse of fluoride. A report re- whole meal bread at every meal; eat less saturated fat; and eat
leased in 2010 by the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- fish several times per week. The study found that those who
tion linked fluoride to an increase in dental fluorosis, unsightly ate fruits and vegetables daily had a 35 percent lower risk of
mottling of the teeth. In 2011, the federal Department of Health coronary heart disease—no surprise there. But wait, there was
and Human Services recommended reducing the fluoride put a further reduction—to 61 percent lower risk—in those who
into the water supply, citing increased amounts consumed in also ate moderate or high amounts of dairy fat. And another
vegetables, fruit, juice and other beverages. The government surprise: those who ate fruits and vegetables daily combined
also informed parents of infants who exclusively use infant with low dairy fat consumption (skim or lowfat milk, no but-
formula reconstituted with fluoridated water that their chil- ter, rarely cream) had a 70 percent increased risk of coronary
dren face an increased risk of fluorosis and suggested using heart disease! Those who ate fruits and vegetables daily with
low-fluoride water, like distilled water, to make the formula. lowfat dairy had four times the risk of coronary heart disease
“It was a trigger,” said one public health official. “People who compared to those who ate fruits and vegetables combined
had heard there is nothing wrong with fluoridation all of the with high-fat dairy! There was no association found between
sudden are hearing that kids are getting too much fluoride” intake of whole meal bread or fish with any outcome (www.
(New York Times, October 13, 2011). ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pubmed/20054459).

FLUORIDATION AND HEART DISEASE
New skepticism about fluoridation is bolstered by a report
published in the journal Nuclear Medicine Communications, FOR SCIENTISTS AND LAY READERS
which found a link between sodium fluoride consumption
and cardiovascular disease. When researchers examined the Please note that the mission of the Weston A. Price
relationship between fluoride intake and calcification of the Foundation is to provide important information about
arteries in more than sixty patients, they found a significant diet and health to both scientists and the lay public. For
correlation between fluoride consumption and hardening this reason, some of the articles in Wise Traditions are
of the arteries. Other studies have found that fluoride nega- necessarily technical. It is very important for us to describe
tively affects cognitive function and over one hundred animal the science that supports the legitimacy of our dietary
principles. In articles aimed at scientists and practitioners,
studies have linked fluoride to an increase in diabetes, male we provide a summary of the main points and also put
infertility, and other health problems (naturalsociety.com, the most technical information in sidebars. These articles
January 17, 2012). are balanced by others that provide practical advice to
our lay readers.
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