Flouride In Water

rafhelp

OK is there a natural or cheaper way to remove fluoride from tap water?

What are alternatives, spring water? What about those concentrated fruit drinks like 100% concentrated orange juice?

Is it possible, you can minimise but cant eradicate all fluoride form diet.

In case you want to know why, ask jeeves..

123davo

Many years ago i lived in spain ... where everyone warned you to drink ... even brush your teeth with bottled water ... the water tasted horrid & was supposed to cause 'spanish tummy' .
I arranged to share a flat with 3 spanish students ... from poor families ... and found that they all drank from the tap!!
They all left an old bottle filled with tap water and left it lid-less in the fridge for a minimum of a few hours before drinking from it.
They told me that this allowed the chemicals in the water ( put there to combat spanish tummy!!) to evaporate off and when it was drunk cold it tasted of ... nice neutral water!
Never had a bad stomach ... lived there for almost a year!
I have done that in the uk too ... and it tastes as good as bottled water!!
but it tastes better cos it's free!!!

Gloomendoom

Letting a jug of water stand gets rid of the chlorine taste but I doubt it would get rid of fluoride.

OP other than collecting rainwater, there isn't cheap and easy way to remove it. You will just have to grin and bear it.

At least you will have nice teeth.

leftieM

You could add another chemical to precipitate the flouride (a soluble calcium salt would do it - but check the toxicity of it.)
Distillation will remove all ions from the water. You can buy deionised/ distilled water from chemist shops. You can remove ions using an ion exchange resin which is attached to the tap.

However, why you would bother is beyond me. It's clear that there is no evidence of adverse effects caused by low levels of fluoride in water, which occurs naturally in many rocks and, through weathering, finds its way in to water. The levels of fluoride in water are extremely low and not harmful at those concentrations.

Be wary of reading the internet. If an article has no reference to any peer reviewed scientific journal then it is worthless - there is no evidence. We really need a basic knowledge of science so we can determine what information we read is real and worth getting knickers in a twist about and what is rubbish.

absorbed

I agree, low levels of fluoride in water have shown to have no adverse effects.

rafhelp

Fluoride-containing compounds are so diverse that it is not possible to generalize on their toxicity, which depends on their reactivity and structure, and in the case of salts, their solubility and ability to release fluoride ions.
Soluble fluoride salts, of which sodium fluoride is the most common, are mildly toxic but have resulted in both accidental and suicidal deaths from acute poisoning.[3] While the minimum fatal dose in humans is not known, the lethal dose for most adult humans is estimated at 5 to 10 g (which is equivalent to 32 to 64 mg/kg elemental fluoride/kg body weight).[24][25][26] However, a case of a fatal poisoning of an adult with 4 grams of sodium fluoride is documented,[27] while a dose of 120 g sodium fluoride has been survived.[28] A toxic dose that may lead to adverse health effects is estimated at 3 to 5 mg/kg of elemental fluoride.[29] For Sodium fluorosilicate (Na2SiF6), the median lethal dose (LD50) orally in rats is 0.125 g/kg, corresponding to 12.5 g for a 100 kg adult.[30] The fatal period ranges from 5 min to 12 hours.[27] The mechanism of toxicity involves the combination of the fluoride anion with the calcium ions in the blood to form insoluble calcium fluoride, resulting in hypocalcemia; calcium is indispensable for the function of the nervous system, and the condition can be fatal. Treatment may involve oral administration of dilute calcium hydroxide or calcium chloride to prevent further absorption, and injection of calcium gluconate to increase the calcium levels in the blood.[27] Hydrogen fluoride is more dangerous than salts such as NaF because it is corrosive and volatile, and can result in fatal exposure through inhalation or upon contact with the skin; calcium gluconate gel is the usual antidote.[31]
In the higher doses used to treat osteoporosis, sodium fluoride can cause pain in the legs and incomplete stress fractures when the doses are too high; it also irritates the stomach, sometimes so severely as to cause ulcers. Slow-release and enteric-coated versions of sodium fluoride do not have gastric side effects in any significant way, and have milder and less frequent complications in the bones.[32] In the lower doses used for water fluoridation, the only clear adverse effect is dental fluorosis, which can alter the appearance of children's teeth during tooth development; this is mostly mild and is unlikely to represent any real effect on aesthetic appearance or on public health.[33]

Source wikipeadia.

They say the fatal dose in humans is not known, So really you cant gaurantee that the dose found in drinking water is safe or not.

I agree if it was that bad people would be dropping like flies cos drinking water is in everything but the effects could be gradual. Like if you took out small amount of air from a tyre eventually it would go flat. The amount is small but what if slowly builds up.

If you want more "reputable sources" how about mainstream news and members of government?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP7IPDfC3yg

Kiran

You need to be careful taking Wikipedia as gospel, anyone can post on it. I cant see the youtube video, however if you wanted to treat the water, could you not use one of the filter tape units that are on the market? Start around £15.

leftieM

rafhelp wrote: »

Source wikipeadia.

They say the fatal dose in humans is not known, So really you cant gaurantee that the dose found in drinking water is safe or not.

I agree if it was that bad people would be dropping like flies cos drinking water is in everything but the effects could be gradual. Like if you took out small amount of air from a tyre eventually it would go flat. The amount is small but what if slowly builds up.

If you want more "reputable sources" how about mainstream news and members of government?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP7IPDfC3yg

I must point out that the wiki article you included actually comes against your argument. You omitted the beginning - that the WHO suggests F- concentrations of 0.5-1 mg/L of water. The article states that 4g of NaF was required to kill someone. You would need to drink ca 1600 litres of water to get 4g of sodium fluoride. This would have to be in one sitting without going to the toilet. As for 'accumulating in the body'? As it's soluble, it comes out of you in your sweat, your wee and your poo.
Lots of substances are toxic if you take enough of them. In small doses they are not.
It might be time to get a small level of science education so that you can understand enough of what you read to decide what to be fearful of and what is safe.

leftieM

rafhelp wrote: »

If you want more "reputable sources" how about mainstream news and members of government?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP7IPDfC3yg

You must also note that the report is not balanced - they only gave arguments against fluoridation and none in favour of it. After all, it isn't added to the water for fun.
Thanks for the link - I'm going to use it to help teach my pupils how to evaluate what they hear on the news. It is worrying how many people are bamboozled by pseudo science and lazy reporting.

Ben84

If you're worried about fluoride in water, look up how much is naturally occurring in everyday popular foods and beverages. Tea for example contains loads.

Anyway, I think it's fine. It's naturally found in everything we eat and drink and has been since before humans or even mammals existed. So, why would we have evolved to be so adversely affected by it?

antrobus

If you're worried about fluoride in water, then you need to be aware that fluoride is naturally present in almost all water supplies; it's just simply a question of how much. The reason that some people think it's a good to artificially add flouride to water, is because of the evidence which shows the 'health benefits' that arise on those districts with high levels of naturally occuring flouride.

And if you still want to know how to get rid of it, why not type 'How to Remove Fluoride from Drinking Water' into Google (it's a lot better than Ask Jeeves) . Although I think you may find that the answer is, 'it's very expensive'.