Adding fluoride to drinking water is widely considered a triumph of public health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the cavity-prevention strategy ranks alongside the development of vaccines and the recognition of tobacco’s dangers as signal achievements of the 20th century.
But new evidence from Los Angeles mothers and their preschool-age children suggests community water fluoridation may have a downside.
A study published Monday in JAMA Network Open links prenatal exposure to the mineral with an increased risk of neurobehavioral problems at age 3, including symptoms that characterize autism spectrum disorder. The association was seen among women who consumed fluoride in amounts that are considered typical in Los Angeles and across the country.
The findings do not show that drinking fluoridated water causes autism or any other behavioral conditions. Nor is it clear whether the relationship between fluoride exposure and the problems seen in the L.A.-area children — a cohort that is predominantly low-income and 80% Latino — would extend to other demographic groups.
There is a very long. growing, and probably incomplete list of other correlates, risk factors, and possible causes that have been the subject of serious studies:
- Inflammatory bowel disease;
- Pesticides;
- Air pollution and proximity to freeways;
- Maternal thyroid issues;
- Autoimmune disorders;
- Induced labor;
- Preterm birth;
- Fever;
- Birth by cesarean section;
- Anesthesia during cesarean sections;
- Maternal and paternal obesity;
- Maternal diabetes;
- Maternal and paternal age;
- Grandparental age;
- Maternal post-traumatic stress disorder;
- Maternal anorexia;
- Smoking during pregnancy;
- Cannabis use during pregnancy;
- Antidepressant use during pregnancy;
- Polycystic ovary syndrome;
- Infant opioid withdrawal;
- Zinc deficiency;
- Sulfate deficiency;
- Processed foods;
- Maternal occupational exposure to solvents;
- Congenital heart disease;
- Insufficient placental allopregnanolone.
- Estrogen in the womb;
- Morning sickness;
- Paternal family history;
- Parental preterm birth;
- Antiseizure meds
- Location of forebears
- Lithium
- Aspartame
- BPA
- Brain inflammation
- Maternal asthma
- Infertility
- Ultraprocessed foods
- Household chemicals
- Parental psychiatric disorders
- Fluoride
