Did You Know… with Mike Furci

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A column by Mike Furci that brings you research, trends and other info to help you with your fitness, health and nutritional needs.

…the United States is the only developed country in the world that still fluoridates its citizens’ drinking water?

10 facts you need to know about fluoride:

1. More people in the U.S. drink fluoridated water than the rest of the world combined.
2. Fluoridated countries do not have less tooth decay than non-fluoridated countries.
3. According to a 500-page scientific review, fluoride is an endocrine disruptor that can affect your bones, brain, thyroid gland, pineal gland and even your blood sugar levels.
4. Fluoride is naturally occurring in some areas, leading to high levels in certain water supplies “naturally.” Fluoridation advocates often use this to support its safety, however naturally occurring substances are not automatically safe (think of arsenic, for instance).
5. About 40 percent of American teens have dental fluorosis, a condition that refers to changes in the appearance of tooth enamel that are caused by long-term ingestion of fluoride during the time teeth are forming.
6. Infants who consume formula made with fluoridated tap water may consume up to 1,200 micrograms of fluoride, or about 100 times more than the recommended amounts.
7. The fluoride supplements sometimes prescribed to those who are not drinking fluoridated water have not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention of tooth decay.
8. Water fluoridation is a form of mass medication that denies you the right to informed consent.
Many European nations have rejected fluoride for the very reason that delivering medication via the water supply would be inappropriate.
9. It is now widely recognized that fluoride’s only justifiable benefit comes from topical contact with teeth, which even the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has acknowledged. Adding it to water and pills, which are swallowed, offers little, if any, benefit to your teeth.
10. Fluoride toxicity is exacerbated by conditions that occur much more frequently in low-income areas.
Mercola.com

…Fructose, not fat, has a linear relationship with the U.S. obesity epidemic.

The incidence of overweight and obese individuals, shown by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), has a striking relationship to fructose consumption in the United States. According to a USDA’s data below, total sugar and fructose consumption started to increase sharply in 1985, and reached a peak in 1999, which is congruent with the incidence of obesity. During 2000 through 2005, we see a slight drop in total sugar and fructose consumption, which is consistent with the leveling off of obesity rates during that same period. This drop in sugar ads up to 10 pounds of total sugar, with fructose contributing six of those pounds.

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