New Research Shatters Common Claim About Fluoride and Intelligence

The case for removing fluoride from the drinking water supply just got weaker. Research out today shows no link between water fluoridation and declining cognition in children or adults.

Researchers examined the education and medical records of a large, nationally representative group of Americans. They found no evidence that water fluoridation was associated with lower test scores in high school or lower cognition scores later in life. The findings seem to undermine one of the most common arguments made against adding fluoride to people’s drinking water, the researchers say.

“If fluoride lowers your IQ, then we should see lower test scores in places where they fluoridate the water. And we didn’t, at all,” lead author John Warren, a sociologist and demographer at the University of Minneso