Fluoride is a toxin that wrecks your ability to think and concentrate and destroys your thyroid gland. Despite claims of safety, several studies showed lowered scores on cognition and IQ for those with high levels of fluoride in their body. But there’s more trouble – cancer, thyroid problems, kidney disease, fractures, and more.
Fluoride is more toxic than lead and only slightly less toxic than arsenic. It is an exceptionally dangerous chemical. Double-blind published research shows that a build -up of fluorides in the body leads to fibromyalgia, skeletal fluorosis, weak and damaged bones, heart and arterial disease , reduced intelligence , ADD / ADHD (attention deficiency hyperactive disorder) and a variety of other degenerative diseases that vary according to each individual. The damage is not immediate, and can take twenty or more years to show up as behavioural disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, hypothyroidism , hip fractures, bone cancer, osteoporosis , other cancers , kidney damage and a wide variety of other disorders. It will eat through metal and plastic pipes, and corrode stainless steel and other materials. It will dissolve rubber tires and melt concrete. This is what could be in your water—all in the name of saving children from cavities, which is highly questionable, according to many researchers. But even the less reactive sodium fluoride is a deadly poison, even in small quantities, and in the form used for fluoridation also contains additional impurities. Other common uses for sodium fluoride include, rat and cockroach poisons, anaesthetics, hypnotics and psychiatric drugs.
“The prolonged ingestion of fluoride may cause significant damage to health and particularly to the nervous system”, according to Valdez-Jimenez, lead researcher of a study published in June 2011. “It is important to be aware of this serious problem and avoid the use of toothpaste and items that contain fluoride, particularly in children as they are more susceptible to the toxic effects of fluoride.”
Fluorine, bromine, chlorine and iodine are known as halogens and are antagonistic to each other in the body. Increase the level of one or more of them and they tend to replace or remove the others. Fluorine, bromine and chlorine are toxic. They are goitrogens that lower the level of iodine in the thyroid gland and disrupts its function. Goiters, you may remember, are large swellings which can appear under the throat when there is insufficient iodine in the diet.
Fluoride poisoning can be manifested in seemingly harmless symptoms, such as white spots in teeth (dental fluorosis), or chronic problems, such as arthritic joints, or more serious problems, including respiratory disease or cancer, or a complex of problems, whether acute or chronic. Many drugs contain fluorides as an active component, antibiotics and many anaesthetics. In fact any drugs that have F l in the chemical components contain fluorides. Fluorides tend to accumulate in the body rather than being easily excreted. For this reason, they are also added to many pharmaceuticals so that the active components are not quickly flushed away. Sodium fluoride and sodium mono-fluorophosphate are added to most toothpaste and a host of other toxic chemicals are also added. Your mouth has some of the most absorptive membranes in your body and as you brush your teeth most of these toxins go directly into your bloodstream. Use a natural, fluoride-free toothpaste or tooth powder, with no chemicals added. Baking soda is a great tooth cleaning powder or use coconut oil, which is, among other things, anti-bacterial.
Other symptoms of fluoride poisoning are: arthritis – stiff, painful joints with or without swelling, painful feet in the morning, asthma – especially after showering in chlorine-filtered water, bony, painful lumps where tendons and ligaments attach to bones, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), feeling cold all the time, feeling cold soon after a hot bath or shower, colic in bottle-fed babies or colic developing when breast-fed babies start solids or are weaned, diabetes insipidus (a kidney ailment) which manifests itself as excessive thirst, increased water consumption that does not relieve thirst, dry throat and irritated eyes, and frequent, dilute urine, especially at night, with normal blood sugar findings. Also on the list are moving black spots (scotoma, or floaters) in front of your eyes, fatigue, weakness and brain fog after bathing or showering in chlorine-filtered water (similar symptoms can occur from chlorine sensitivity), food intolerances that seem to come and go, gastrointestinal problems, irritable bowel, nausea, diorrhea without apparent cause, heartburn and upper bowel pain especially after drinking a full glass of water, gum disease – irritated or bleeding gums despite good hygiene and diet; gums heal when you use un-fluoridated toothpaste heart palpitations and increased heart rate without exertion, kidney disease – worsening symptoms, kidney stones, hives, blisters, rash on stomach or back within an hour of drinking fluoridated water or after bathing or showering in chlorine-filtered water, teeth loosening or needing to be extracted despite good hygiene and diet and underactive (hypothyroid), overactive (hyperthyroid or Grave’s disease), goitre and nodules.
And the list goes on. Fluoride causes bone fracture, disrupts your immune system, increases the aging process, increases the absorption of lead, causes muscle disorders, causes bone cancer, reduces melatonin production, leads to the early onset of puberty, lowers thyroid function, disrupts the synthesis of collagen which can lead to osteoarthritis, damages sperm and increases infertility, inhibits the formation of antibodies and in activates about 62 enzymes in your body. Most pesticides contain fluorides and if you have been eating those crops that are subject to heavy spraying chances are you have been ingesting fluoride, unless you have been washing your fruits and vegetables thoroughly and in un-fluorinated water. The most sprayed crops are potatoes, apples and, strawberries. A large number of non-organic produce items can contain shocking levels of fluoride-based pesticide and iceberg lettuce may be one of the largest offenders. In fact, iceberg lettuce can now be laced with a startling 180 parts per million (ppm) of fluoride – 180 times higher than the ‘recommended’ water fluoridation level. This ‘health’ food could actually be corroding your body with heavy levels of fluoride. But what other seemingly-healthy produce items contain high amounts of fluoride? Citrus fruits are actually allowed to contain 95 ppm’s of sodium fluoride but citrus fruits could also be part of your detox programme. Potatoes can have as much as 22 ppm’s on the outside and 2 ppm inside. Raisins are allowed 55 ppm’s.
The only effective way to detox from perchlorate, fluoride or other halides is with iodine. Chelation and other methods for heavy metal detox may not be as effective. Loading the body with iodine displaces fluoride from cell receptors and flushes the fluoride out of the body in urine. Your body can’t make iodine. You have to get it from food or supplements. The best dietary source of iodine is seaweed. Sea vegetables like wakame, nori, kombu (kelp), arame, and dulse are the richest edible sources of iodine. Just one tablespoon of dried dulse flakes contains about 750 mcg of iodine. Other good iodine sources include seafood (salmon, lobster, scallops, cod and shrimp). Cranberries, yogurt, potatoes, strawberries, and navy beans also contain iodine but in much lower amounts. You can also find seaweed supplements like kelp tablets at most health food stores. Remember though that potatoes and strawberries are two of the most sprayed food crops and some of the pesticides used in spraying contain fluorides.
Iodine is important in many ways even outside of fluoride detox, but the reality is that fluoride directly attacks the thyroid. The key here is that iodine, preferably nascent iodine which is the best quality, helps to remove sodium fluoride through the urine as calcium fluoride.Tamarind is a staple in the ancient Ayurvedic medicine system. In addition to yielding delicious teas when added to your favourite tea beverage, tamarind also helps expel fluoride through the urine. As with many other toxic substances, a powerful dry sauna session can also help to excrete sodium fluoride from fatty tissues. Be sure to drink up on purified water to replenish your system afterwards.
Cleansing your system of fluoride is not the same as getting rid of mercury or arsenic. Fluoride is not a heavy metal. It’s a halide in the same family as bromine and chlorine. Fluoride, bromine, chlorine, and perchlorate all bind to iodine receptors in the body and displace iodine. Perchlorate is a man-made molecule combining oxygen and chlorine. It is used for rocket fuel and industrial processes and contaminates our water supplies.
Detoxing from fluoride using iodine may trigger symptoms like headaches, agitation, and palpitations as fluoride is released. To minimize those effects an iodine detox should include a nutritional plan as well as unrefined sea salt, selenium, vitamin C, and a vitamin B complex. At the same time, as with any cleanse, your liver will need additional support. Liver cleansing foods include garlic, turmeric, flaxseeds, milk thistle, lemons, limes, cilantro, pectin and avocados. And always drink plenty of water when detoxing. Divide your weight by two and drink that number of ounces of fluoride-free water each day to help flush the toxins.
Even though iodine may be the best way to detox from fluoride, studies show that other methods may help reverse the damage done by fluoride in the body. Curcumin, from turmeric, fights fluoride toxicity. Remember also that turmeric needs black pepper to be more readily absorbed by your body. In a study published in Pharmacognosy Magazine, curcumin was found to protect against the brain-damaging effects of fluoride. Other studies show that curcumin also protects the kidneys against fluoride toxicity. Tamarind is commonly used in Ayurvedic medicine. In a recent randomized, diet control study, Indian researchers studied the effect of tamarind in 30 subjects living in an area with high natural fluoride levels. After two weeks, the group supplementing with tamarind had a significant increase in fluoride excreted through their urine. The researchers concluded that tamarind mobilized fluoride from bone and carried it out in urine. In another study, Indian schoolboys ate 10 grams of tamarind every day. After 18 days, their excretion of fluoride was significantly increased. The researchers concluded that tamarind could delay fluorosis by improving excretion of fluoride in the urine.Tamarind is a tropical tree. Its pulp, bark, and leaves can be used to make a tincture or tea. Leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds are used to make curries, salads, stews and soups.
Blackberry juice counters the oxidative damage of fluoride and also repairs the effects of fluoride liver toxicity. Holy basil protects offspring from maternal fluoride damage. Remember also, if you are an expectant mother, that the placenta is not a barrier to fluoride poisoning of a faetus and whatever you ingest feeds your developing child. Quercetin from green leafy vegetables protects the heart against fluoride oxidative stress and selenium and zinc protect against kidney issues.
You probably already know this, but magnesium is a very important mineral that many are lacking. Besides being so important in the metabolism and synthesis of nutrients within your cells, it also inhibits the absorption of fluoride into your cells. Along with magnesium, calcium seems to help attract fluorides away from bones and teeth, allowing the body to eliminate it.
Fluoride interacts with the bonds which maintain the normal shape of proteins. With distorted protein, the immune system attacks its own protein, the body’s own tissue. This is what auto-immune diseases are about. Fluoride in drinking water damages the immune system by inhibiting the migration rate of white blood cells to infected areas, interferes with phagocytosis (the destruction of bacteria and other foreign agents by white blood cells) and induces the release of superoxide free radicals in resting white blood cells.
Fluoride accumulates to a very high level in the pineal gland but not in the brain because of the “blood-brain-barrier”. The pineal gland is outside this barrier. This accumulation of fluoride in the pineal gland contributes to calcification of the gland with the attendant side effects, notably, the reduced production of melatonin and to a lesser extent the hormone leptin (the saiety hormone, which tells your brain when you have had enough to eat). The pineal gland also plays a very important role in sexual and spiritual development both of which can be impaired by calcification.
Disclaimer: The contents of this website are not intended to replace a one to one relationship with your health practitioner nor are they meant as medical advice. You are encouraged to do your own research and make your own decisions in partnership with your medical practitioner.