Tap or bottled water - which is best for you?

There are NO double-blind studies anywhere proving the efficacy of fluoride as a caries preventative (17). There ARE double-blind studies proving adverse health effects, at the level of 1ppm (1mg/l) in water.(18) There are no studies documenting safety at any intake level..

Fluoride actually decays teeth at levels slightly above what dentists recommend.

New York (PRWEB) October 24, 2004 -- Cavities rise significantly with increasing fluoride content of the drinking water, report Wondwossen and colleagues in the October 2004 dental journal, Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology.

Cavities developed in 45% and 62% of adolescents in moderately and highly fluoridated areas with an average of 1.2 and 1.8 decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth, respectively.

In the U.S., fluoride chemicals get added to water supplies to reach approximately 1 mg/L or 1 part per million. But fluoride content of foods (2), beverages, medicines, dental products and air pollution increase daily fluoride intake to an unknown quantity. This means total fluoride intake can push children into the fluoride danger zone. This may be why many fluoridated U.S. cities face cavity crises today. (3)

Dentist and researcher Hardy Limeback, Head of the Preventive Dentistry Department at the University of Toronto says, "These low water fluoride exposures are typical of what U.S. children experience. The evidence is piling up that our kids can be harmed rather than helped if their fluoride exposure is excessive."

The FDA lists fluoride as an "unapproved new drug" and the EPA lists fluoride as a "contaminant". Fluoride has never received "FDA Approval" and is considered to be a toxic waste product from the fertilizer industry.

A July 1998 report for The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry states that at least 22% of all American children now have dental fluorosis as a result of ingesting too much fluoride. Fluorosis is light spots and discoloration forming on developing teeth of children. In advanced cases pitting of teeth can occur.

Fluoride has been linked to many harmful health effects including: Alzheimer's, kidney damage, gastrointestinal problems, cancer, genetic damage, neurological impairment, bone and tooth decay, arthritis, and osteoporosis. Check the Internet for government and scientific reports validating this see http://www.zerowasteamerica.org/Fluoride.htm.

Battelle released the results of its study of fluorides and rats in April 1989. The study showed a dose-dependent relationship between the incidence of oral cancerous tumors and fluorides. After learning this, the National Cancer Institute did a study and found that as exposure to fluoridation increases, so does the incidence of oral cancer; sometimes by as much as 50%.

In 1990 forty US dentist brought a case against the American Dental Association contending that the Association purposefully shielded the public from data that links fluoride to genetic defects, cancer and other health problems (Columbus Dispatch, Oct 21, 1990). Since 1990 over 45 US cities have rejected fluoridation. Ninety eight percent of Europe's drinking water is now fluoride free.

we get our watersupply from lake ontario. while it passes all the tests for purity, it does not taste very good. fresh from the tap it usually still smells of chlorine. mrs h and i usually drink several glasses of water a day. we use a 'britta' filter to remove some of the bad taste from the water used for drinking and cooking. we also drink a variety of european 'mineral' waters; mrs h favours 'apollinaris' and 'gerolsteiner' ; i often drink 'jordanka' from poland or 'radanska' from slovenia. we simply enjoy the somewhat lemony taste of mineral water (mrs h is supposed to drink 'apollinaris' to help her slight liver problem and aid digestion. when she was a nurse in germany many moons ago, 'der herr professor' recommend that she drink a glass or two a day to benefit her health - seems to have worked well so far). hbg

That's why you had the 'bunfight', msOlga.
Lots of arguments about the stuff.

Silly argument

In most civilised countries (and for the point of discussion I will include Australia), there is no material difference between tap and bottled water.

Its only the advertising hype that gets people to shell out £1.50 for a bottle of Perrier or similar.

My advice, buy one bottle Perrier then keep filling it from the tap. If you serve it to other people they will never know.

If however your local water company gets its water f rom a muddy hole near a sewage treatment works...

I'd have to question whether the change is due to the fluoride, or a more overall change in circumstances. As one of the links pointed out, there have been no double-blind studies on this.

It's similar to the increased height of kids these days. Is it due to better food or increased antibiotics/steroids in the public water supply? Will we be able to tease out the results?