Prenatal Exposure to Fluoride Linked to Lower IQ Levels

For years, many communities have added fluoride to drinking water to help reduce cavities. But a new study that has found a link between fluoride levels in pregnant women and lower intelligence in their children may provide further ammunition for those who are calling that practice into question.

In the first study of its kind, investigators at the University of Toronto, McGill, the Harvard School of Public Health, and other institutions have found a link between fluoride in the urine of pregnant women and lower measures of intelligence in children.

In the study released Tuesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the researchers say they looked at 287 pairs of mothers and children in Mexico City at multiple stages of neurodevelopment. The study recruited pregnant women from 1994 to 2005, taking urine samples from the mothers during pregnancy and from their children between six and 12 years of age to assess their exposures to fluoride.

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