According to a controversial new study from Canada, pregnant women who drink water containing fluoride may have children with a lower IQ.
The research involved 601 mothers who gave birth between 2008 and 2012 and in a two year study from 2017 to 2019, it found that fluoride intake was associated with a 3.66 lowering in IQ scores.
Public health professionals have dismissed the research saying “don’t panic”.
Water fluoridation began in Australia in the 1960s as a way to help prevent dental decay and fluoride has been directly linked to significantly improved dental wellbeing in consumers by making teeth more resistant to the action of bacterial and acids in food.
Matt Hopcraft, associate professor of dental public health at the University of Melbourne says “Our recommendation would still be that water fluoridation is safe and effective, and that you wouldn’t change [public policy] on the basis of this one study.”
A Canadian study says pregnant women who drink tap water with fluoride may have children with a lower IQ.
(Image: Getty Images)Celebrity chef and My Kitchen Rules judge, Pete Evans is no stranger to controversial opinions and has been a long-time critic of fluoride.
“This has been known for ages, and this is just the tip of that iceberg,” he told The Herald Sun.
“Fluoride is a known neurotoxin and it should not be put in our water supply. If people choose to add fluoride then it should be their choice to do so. I cannot wait for it to be eliminated from being added to Australian water supplies.”
Pete Evans has not drank tap water for almost 30 years.
(Image: Instagram/@chefpeteevans)The television star and cookbook author has since received backlash for his support of this research but he is sticking by his beliefs.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Pete Evans addressed why he only drinks water with no fluoride or chlorine and called tap water “toxic”.
“Yes everyone, I have gone crazy as it is says in the headlines. Gone crazy for not touching toxic tap water for close to 30 years now and prefer to choose water that has no fluoride or chlorine added for our family.
(Remember when doctors said that smoking ciggies were not a problem for health, or when the heart foundation said to eat margarine and vegetable oils, or the cancer council says lather these toxins into your skin to protect you from the dangerous sun, or the dairy association says drinking milk will give you strong bones…” he wrote.
My Kitchen Rules judges, Manu Feildel and Pete Evans.
(Image: Instagram/@chefpeteevans)Chief executive of the Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch says the chef, ‘should probably stick to the celebrity cheffing and leave public health policy to the experts’.
Pete Evans has a long list of wild claims that goes against the opinions of medical professionals including, the modern Australian diet is to blame for autism; we should not use sunscreen due to “poisonous chemicals” and his Paleo cookbook for babies, which featured a recipe for a “DIY baby bone broth formula” that health authorities declared potentially fatal for small children.
