A new study conducted by scientists has not found any link between drinking fluoridated water and hip fractures.
In this study a team of researchers, led by Peggy Nasman, Karolinska Institute, Department of Dental Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden, investigated possible adverse health effects on bone tissue from drinking fluoridated water.
The study included a large cohort of Swedish residents chronically exposed to various fluoride levels, with the hypothesis of a possible association between fluoride level in the drinking water and the risk of hip fracture.
The cariostatic benefit from water fluoridation is indisputable, but there has been debate over the past 60 years on possible adverse effects from fluoride on human health.
All individuals born in Sweden between January 1, 1900 and December 31, 1919, alive and living in their municipality of birth at the time of start of follow up were eligible for this study.
The information on the eligible study subjects (n=473,277) was linked among the Swedish National In-patient Register (IPR), the Swedish Cause of Death Register, and the Register of Population and Population Changes. Estimated individual drinking water fluoride exposure was stratified into four categories: very low less than 0.3mg/L, low 0.3 - 0.69mg/L, medium 0.7 - 1.49mg/L and high =1.5mg/L.
Nasman and her team of researchers found no association between chronic fluoride exposure and the risk of hip fracture.
The study has been published in the OnlineFirst portion of the IADR/AADR Journal of Dental Research.