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In favour of dumping fluoride

Fluoride has come under fire as of late and, quite frankly, I’m glad.

Fluoride has come under fire as of late and, quite frankly, I’m glad.

Calgary’s decision to remove fluoride from the public water supply has sparked discussion about whether Red Deer should follow suit.

As a fitness professional for nearly two decades I’m thankful this topic is hitting the forefront and it’s my sincere hope that our great city will follow Calgary’s lead.

Your dentist will argue that fluoride is critical for good dental health, an argument based primarily on studies performed nearly 70 years ago.

Coincidentally, most of Europe outlawed fluoride decades ago and yet has shown similar improvements in dental health to those in North America.

In many more recent studies you might read a number of more disturbing considerations, there are many questions about fluoride’s long-term effects on the body and suggested links to instances of chronic kidney disease, bone cancer, gastrointestinal disorders, dental fluorosis and a strong link to hypothyroidism to name a few.

Fluoride mimics a primary thyroid hormone thyrotropin or TSH; so many documented symptoms of hypothyroidism are also symptoms of fluoride poisoning.

Even if you are steadfast on the benefits of fluoride, and dispute its dangers, it still doesn’t make sense to add it to the city’s water supply.

The optimal level of fluoride consumption was set in the 1940s as approximately one mg/day; this was based on a fluoride level of about 1ppm or 1mg/L.

Red Deer water is listed at 0.8mg/L. Meaning you would ingest 0.8 mg after consuming just four glasses of Red Deer water.

Considering by today’s standards the minimum water recommendation is eight glasses (and if you train with me I’m going to encourage you to consume 12-14 glasses daily.)

Even before we consider processed food, toothpaste with fluoride, soft drinks, vitamin and mineral supplements, and many other sources you’ve now consumed two to three times what’s considered the “optimal” amount. The sheer availability of fluoride in our North American diets eliminates any need for it to be added to water if you believe in its benefits. Additionally, today our bodies are more physiologically overloaded by chemicals and different forms of stress than ever before.

Fluoride like many other chemicals has been shown to be residual, meaning the more you consume the more that hangs around in fat cells and other tissues in our body for weeks, months and years building up to higher and higher levels.

It’s common sense that too much of anything is rarely a good thing but if anything is clear dangerous or not there is no longer any real need to add fluoride to our water.

But the moral or focal point of this story ought to still be different.

Whether you feel as I do, that fluoride is potentially dangerous, or if you side with the local dentist that its benefits are only positive you can’t argue the moral fact that at present you don’t have a choice.

If for no other reason than that alone it is no longer ethical to fluoridate water based on its abundant availability, you should be able to choose what goes in your body. Yours in health.

Cabel McElderry is a local personal trainer and nutrition coach. For more information on fitness and nutrition, visit the Fitness F/X website at www.oneto1fitness.com.